ABSTRACT
The Closer Economic Relations is a shorthand term for the Australia and New Zealand Closer Economic Relationship Trade Agreement (CERTA) which the two countries concluded in 1983 to promote trans-Tasman trade by creating a free trade area. This agreement was the culmination of protracted negotiations over the years to seek a framework to promote trade between two countries and to foster existing personal and business links. Although there was much uncertainty at the beginning, including a frosty reception of the agreement, considerable progress has since been made. At each stage of the scheduled reviews, agreement was achieved to deepen and widen trade liberalisation between the two countries. Indeed, the original agreement to liberalise trade in goods has now expanded to embrace the liberalisation of trade in services, including the creation of a single aviation market which is the subject of this book. In part, the evolution of the agreement may be attributed to events which accelerated the partnership and in part to the perceived need for market integration. Any lack of progress would have seemed inconsistent with the prevailing winds of global free trade under the World Trade Organization (formerly the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade) and others, such as the common market of the European Community.
