NZ 'pushing hard' to secure free trade agreement with EU

New Zealand will be "pushing hard" to secure a free trade agreement (FTA) with the EU this year, Trade Minister Damien O'Connor says.

Speaking from London on Tuesday, O'Connor told Breakfast "we are on the home straight".

"We’re hoping that we can get that over the line this year. Always ambitious and they want to connect to a country that shares their values in democracy, environmental management, animal welfare standards," he said.

"Those are the things they want to connect with as consumers and trading nations and we offer that opportunity for them. So we’ll be pushing hard and hopefully we’ll get that one over the line this year as well."

O'Connor's comments come in the wake of New Zealand signing off an FTA with the UK, which will see almost all tariffs removed on most exports.

The Trade Minister is soon headed to Brussels to advance FTA talks with the EU, before visiting the World Trade Organization in Geneva.

New Zealand's talks with the EU about an FTA began in October 2015.

Pressed by Breakfast's John Campbell on whether an FTA with Europe was a "realistic prospect" and whether he was predicting it could exist by the end of this year, O'Connor said: "Yes, it’s a possibility and we’ll continue to work hard.

"People would have thought that an FTA with the UK with no tariffs was impossible, well we’ve done it and I think we may have a different agreement with the EU. It would still be incredibly valuable for NZ and for the EU member countries."