China and New Zealand have launched the first round of negotiations to upgrade their Free Trade Agreement, which was initially inked in 2008. Officials from the Chinese Commerce Ministry and New Zealand delegates are holding talks in Beijing.

This round of negotiations will last until April 27, aiming to enhance areas already covered by the agreement, including technical barriers to trade, customs procedures, cooperation and trade facilitation. Both countries will also raise other issues and address newer areas such as competition policy and electronic commerce.

Last month, during Chinese Premier Li Keqiang's visit to New Zealand, he spoke about the benefits of upgrading the FTA and the improvements brought by globalization.

"This is the first of its kind that’s being done between China and a developed country. This is the highest level bilateral FTA between China and a developed country. This will give a strong boost to trade links between China and New Zealand, and it will send a positive signal to the world and to the region that our two countries are committed to free trade. This is a clear position of our two countries," Chinese premier Li Keqiang said.

The China-New Zealand FTA is one of the highest-standard China has signed with a developed country. Long-term trade relations have been good since the FTA was signed in 2008. At the 2016 APEC Leaders Meeting in Peru, it was announced that upgrade negotiations would begin in the first half of 2017. To date, China has signed 14 FTAs with 22 countries and regions, in Asia, Latin America, Oceania and Europe.