The Department of External Trade is Organising a Workshop on Trade in services (TIS). This will be held in the Ministry's conference room on the 20th - 21st of July 2009. Professor Jane Kelsey from the Universiry of Auckland will be presenting on various fronts on TIS and a toolkit on the subject. This will be very interesting as it is a first of its kind.

As a WTO Member, we have schedule of Commitments to liberalize our services sectors in accordance with the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) to which all the WTO members are subject and which is permanently binding. A services agreement permanently commits its signatories to open up their services sectors to foreign competition in the following “Modes of Supply”

1. Across the Border - e.g. distance learning or DFL
2. Consumption Abroad - e.g. SI Students studying abroad
3. Commercial Presence - e.g. USP Center in SI
4. Presence of Natural Person - e.g. Seasonal workers into NZ

This workshop will be an opportune time for the stakeholders to know first hand information from a services expert about trade in services and how services sectors are being scheduled and treated especially in comprehensive trade agreements. While we might be heading towards signing a few comprehensive free trade agreements in the future, it's worth noting that learning from this workshop is not only a bonus but also a significant learning curve that would ensure that we are fully aware of the impacts of trade in services agreements on our policies and regulations in the long run.

Service sectors that such an agreement might cover include:

• Business Sector
• Communication Sector
• Distribution Sector
• Education Sector
• Enviromental Sector
• Financial Sector
• Health Sector
• Tourism Sector
• Recreational, Cultural and Sporting Sector
• Transport
• Construction and Engineering Sector
• Others