WELLINGTON, March 5 (Xinhua) -- New Zealand and Chile have signed a new cooperation arrangement aimed at boosting agricultural collaboration and strengthening trade ties, New Zealand Agriculture Minister Todd McClay said Thursday.

The new Strategic Agricultural Arrangement 2026-2030 strengthens New Zealand-Chile agricultural relationship and seeks to encourage regional and global cooperation, promote sustainable agricultural development, undertake important research and innovation, and build climate resilience, McClay said in a press release.

"Agriculture is at the heart of the New Zealand and Chilean economies. We have similar farming systems, similar geographies, and both advocate for open, rules-based trade," he said following the signing of the arrangement with his Chilean counterpart Ignacia Fernandez Gatica.

The two-way trade between the two countries reached 342.94 million NZ dollars (about 203.6 million U.S. dollars) in the year to September 2025, statistics showed. ■