New Zealand is to join a World Trade Organization (WTO) pact that allows its businesses to bid for government contracts in other member countries on an equal basis with domestic firms.

Economic Development Minister Steven Joyce and Trade Minister Tim Groser on Thursday welcomed the WTO's decision to allow New Zealand's accession to the Government Procurement Agreement (GPA) after two years of negotiations.

Accession to the GPA would give New Zealand companies guaranteed access to bid for approximately 1.7 trillion U.S. dollars in annual overseas government contracts across 43 WTO member countries, including the United States, Canada, the Republic of Korea, Japan and 28 countries of the European Union, Joyce said in a statement.

"There'll be no need for our top entrepreneurs and innovators to build offshore branches in order to do business. The GPA will let kiwi companies run their businesses the way they want to, rather than establish 'work around' like they have to now," Joyce said.

"The GPA is another important step in opening up large overseas markets so New Zealand exporters can compete on equal terms with their international counterparts," Groser said in the statement.

"New Zealand will now need to complete standard constitutional processes, including final Cabinet approval and the parliamentary examination of the agreement, in order for accession to occur." Endi

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