WELLINGTON, Oct. 28 (Xinhua) -- New Zealand businesses on Friday welcomed a new move toward a trans-Tasman infrastructure market, but warned New Zealand firms needed fair access to Australia.
New Zealand Finance Minister Bill English and Australian Treasurer Scott Morrison in Sydney Friday launched an online portal aimed at giving a clearer picture of high-value infrastructure investments opportunities throughout Australasia.
The new Australia New Zealand Infrastructure Pipeline (ANZIP) listed about 25 New Zealand-based projects and about 90 Australian-based projects from government agencies, local authorities, state-owned enterprises and publicly-listed companies.
All projects listed were valued at over 100 million NZ dollars (71.39 million U.S. dollars) and had either recently started or were yet to get underway, English said in a statement from his office.
The launch of ANZIP signaled a joint commitment to building a more integrated infrastructure market between the two countries.
"Australia is critical to New Zealand's economy. Not only is Australia our biggest trading partner, but approximately half of all foreign direct investment in New Zealand comes from Australia," said English.
"Similarly, half of the investment coming out of New Zealand is invested in Australia."
He expected ANZIP would help grow foreign direct investment in both countries, as well as giving greater visibility of future investment opportunities.
The Business New Zealand lobby group said the value of the ANZIP lay in the transparency of upcoming projects, allowing for better involvement and planning by construction companies across Australia and New Zealand.
"It will be important that the agreement is backed up by measures that will see New Zealand businesses gain fair access to Australian opportunities," chief executive Kirk Hope said in a statement.
