WELLINGTON, Oct. 24 (Xinhua) -- New Zealand has completed domestic procedures to ratify the Pacific Agreement on Closer Economic Relations (PACER Plus) among 11 members, a trade and development agreement for Southern Pacific region, Trade and Export Growth Minister David Parker said on Wednesday.
"We have notified Tonga as Depositary for PACER Plus. New Zealand is the first country to ratify the agreement," Parker said, referring to the agreement as a way of creating jobs, raising living standards and encouraging sustainable development in the Pacific region.
The other ten signatories showed clear momentum towards ratification at the recent Solomon Islands meeting, Parker said, adding the agreement will come into force as soon as possible in 2019.
New Zealand, together with Australia, are safeguarding that other signatories to ratify in coming months.
"The sooner PACER Plus enters into force, the sooner Pacific signatories can receive further benefits as part of the implementation phase," the minister said.
PACER Plus comes into force 60 days after at least eight of the 11 signatories have ratified. The other signatories are: Australia, the Cook Islands, Kiribati, Nauru, Niue, Samoa, the Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.
