On Feb. 16 New Zealand Trade Minister Tim Groser spoke highly of the development of bilateral trade relations with China, describing them as "an extraordinary success" in an exclusive interview with People's Daily Online.

Two-way trade between China and New Zealand has seen a rapid increase since the two countries signed a bilateral free trade agreement 2008. In 2013, China replaced Australia in becoming New Zealand's biggest trading partner and export market.

According to Groser, the goal of two-way trade of $20 billion by the year 2020, set by the two governments, will be easily achieved since the figure is already just under $19 billion.

"New Zealand is less than 2 percent of the size of the US, either by population or by GDP; so for this tiny country to reach 20 billion, when the figures for the 2 biggest economies in the world are 500 billion, I think that's quite an achievement," Groser said, comparing New Zealand's trade with China to that between China and the US.

The trade minister is convinced that a strong political relationship with China "is fundamental to other things moving forward, including on the commercial front". He also holds an optimistic view on the potential of future economic cooperation with China.

"On the dairy side, it's no longer just a trade relationship, it's becoming a trade AND investment relationship. We're seeing two of China's biggest dairy companies investing about half a billion dollars in our country in milk processing; and Fonterra has already invested significant sums of money in production in China," said the minister. In 2013, 40 percent of New Zealand's exports to China were dairy products.

"Outside dairy, we're seeing similar growth. New Zealand replaced Russia a month or two ago as the largest source of imported logs into China; and there has also been a huge expansion of trade in meat, which is another of New Zealand's great agricultural export industries."