China and New Zealand will sign a free trade agreement (FTA) in April, its first with a developed nation, the commerce ministry said yesterday.

After 15 rounds of talks, the two countries have reached consensus on substantial issues and are now finalizing the text of the agreement, Wang Xinpei, the ministry's spokesman, said at a press conference.

"The FTA will cover goods and service trade and investment," Wang said.

New Zealand was the first developed country to initiate talks with China toward an FTA. Negotiations began in November 2004. It was also the first developed country to recognize China's market economy status in April 2004.

Bilateral trade between the two countries was $3.35 billion in the first 11 months of last year, up 25 percent year-on-year, the Ministry of Commerce said.

China and Chile will launch the sixth round of talks toward an FTA on service trade in Chile's capital Santiago in March, Wang said.

The two countries signed an FTA on trade in goods in November 2005 and the agreement took effect in October 2006.

Chile is China's first FTA partner in Latin America. Bilateral trade between the two has seen robust growth since the agreement was struck, surging 67.6 percent year-on-year to reach $13.31 billion in the first 11 months of 2007.

Talks on service trade and investment agreements between China and Chile began in January 2007 and are expected to finish in 2008.

China has signed FTA agreements with 14 countries and regions. It is also negotiating with another 12 nations and regions.

Machinery and electronic product exports surged 27.6 percent last year to reach $701.17 billion, the commerce ministry said yesterday. Machinery and electronic product exports accounted for 57.6 percent of China's total exports last year.

Overseas project contracting saw continued strong growth last year, Wang said.

Turnover in overseas project contracting was $40.6 billion last year, surging 35.3 percent on the previous year. Chinese contractors signed $77.6 billion worth of overseas projects last year, up 17.6 percent over 2006.

Asia and Africa remained China's major overseas project contracting markets.

(China Daily January 25, 2008)