Food and other essential items from New Zealand will be arriving in Singapore next week, under a Declaration between Singapore and New Zealand.

Negotiations for the Declaration concluded on Wednesday, April 15, according to Minister for Trade and Industry Chan Chun Sing.

S'pore & NZ to keep trade lines open for essentials

Singapore and New Zealand pledged to ensure that trade lines for essential items will be kept open during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Items include medical supplies, hospital equipment, and food such as eggs, fish, meat, and vegetables.

Chan said that the Declaration is a direct outcome of a joint ministerial statement in March among Singapore, New Zealand, Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Laos, Myanmar and Uruguay.

The nine countries have affirmed their commitment to keeping trade lines open during this global crisis.

"We hope that more countries will sign on to this Declaration so that we can collectively respond effectively and efficiently to the Covid-19 situation," Chan said in the statement released yesterday (April 15).

Strong bilateral ties between S'pore & NZ

He further affirmed the warm ties that Singapore shares with New Zealand in his Facebook post, calling the latter a "close and like-minded partner" of Singapore.

The two countries also share close economic ties, he added.

Singapore and New Zealand also upgraded the ANZSCEP (Agreement between New Zealand and Singapore on a Closer Economic Partnership) in May 2019, under the trade and economics pillar of the Singapore-New Zealand Enhanced Partnership.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern also shared earlier this month that the government has contacted Singapore to register interest regarding TraceTogether, a locally-developed app by GovTech Singapore to help with Covid-19 contact tracing.

Read Chan's full post here:

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Top image via Chan Chun Sing/FB, Joshua Lee