New Zealand will still be able to make its foreign investment rules “more restrictive” under the Trans-Pacific Partnership, according to a Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade guidance note, opening up a way for the Labour Party to support the controversial trade and investment pact that it feared would breach the one of its five “bottom lines” relating to foreign …

Twelve Pacific Rim nations have reached a deal on the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership in the American city of Atlanta, ending more than five years of negotiations to create the largest trade and investment pact since the Uruguay Round of the GATT trade agreement 20 years ago. However, New Zealand has barely prised open the door for dairy exports to the highly …

Energy  Energy industry veteran Albert Brantley is to retire as chief executive of Genesis Energy at the end of the 2016 financial year, the electricity company’s chair, Jenny Shipley announced. Brantley was appointed to lead Genesis in 2008, replacing Murray Jackson, and has led a strategy that has ended Genesis’s role as a de facto generator of last resort, which …

Genesis Energy became the latest electricity company to increase its distributions to shareholders as it reported a 113 percent increase in net profit of $104.8 million on marginally increased revenues of $2.1 billion in the year to June 30. Chair Jenny Shipley said in a statement the board was “satisfied” with a “strong” performance from Genesis, the country’s largest electricity and gas retailer, …

The Auditor-General is mounting a probe into the Saudi Arabian agri-hub created at a cost of $15.5 million to the taxpayer in 2013 as part of efforts to restore relations with Saudi Arabia after the New Zealand government confirmed a ban on live sheep shipments to the Arab nation. Among the four broad terms of reference of the inquiry will be “whether the …

The latest papal encyclical is “offensive”, “infuriating” and “drivel” in its commentary on the operation of markets, says Oliver Hartwich, a self-professed Catholic and executive director of the New Zealand Initiative, a libertarian think tank. The Laudato Si encyclical – a communication to bishops setting out the Pope’s views on a chosen set of issues – was published by Pope Francis to global …

The United States is likely to try and force the pace of negotiations to conclude the Trans-Pacific Partnership in the next few weeks, following a vote in the US Senate last night that all but ensures President Barack Obama will gain so-called ‘fast track’ authority to complete the controversial agreement. One more Senate vote is expected overnight tonight, New Zealand …

The Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact does not yet include an acceptable deal on access for New Zealand’s most important exports, dairy products, with little more than a month to go before the controversial 12 nation trade deal could be concluded. “I think the way I would describe it is there’s a deal. It’s probably not at the level that we would …

The fate of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade and investment pact may be known as early as next Wednesday, US time, after a vote in the US Congress last night endorsed the elusive ‘fast-track authority’ that President Barack Obama needs if the 12 nation negotiation is to be concluded successfully. However, the next few days will be a “swirling mass”, says New Zealand Trade …