Trade Minister Todd McClay today issued a call for public submissions on the likely impact of Brexit on New Zealand businesses that export goods or services to the United Kingdom, or which have investments in the United Kingdom.

This follows the referendum on 23 June 2016 that saw the UK electorate vote to leave the European Union – a result that is now being implemented by the British Government.

“Although the Brexit process will take a number of years, the New Zealand Government is paying close attention to it - to ensure the interests of New Zealanders are maintained and advanced,” says Mr McClay.

“The first step of this is to build an accurate understanding of New Zealand’s commercial interests in the UK, and hear from exporters and investors how they think Brexit will impact their activities in the UK.”

The submissions received will help inform the Government’s approach to issues that may arise in the course of the UK’s exit from the European Union, and to enable the Government to more effectively work with businesses to safeguard New Zealand’s interests as the process unfolds.

Submissions have already been received on the EU-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement, which is New Zealand’s current trade priority in Europe. This is a separate information-gathering process to better understand the specific of New Zealand-UK trade and how it might be affected by the UK leaving the EU.

More information is available on the MFAT website.