China and New Zealand have made further progress toward establishing a free trade area during the latest round of negotiations held here between March 7-10, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce said Tuesday.

During the sixth round of negotiations, the two sides carried out extensive consultations and increased their consensus on the trade of products and services, investment, intellectual property rights, resolution of disputes, rules of origins, customs cooperation, technical barriers and other issues, the Ministry said.

Officials from China's ministries of commerce, foreign affairs,finance, agriculture and other authorities took part in the negotiations. Vice Minister of Commerce Yi Xiaozhun met with the New Zealand delegates.

According to the Ministry of Commerce, China is in talks with 27 countries and regions with the aim of establishing nine free trade areas, covering one quarter of China's total trade. Negotiations with New Zealand are the first such talks with a developed country.

Trade between China and New Zealand has been growing rapidly inrecent years. Bilateral trade reached 2.68 billion U.S. dollars in 2005, 2.5 times more than in 2000.

Talks between the two countries were officially launched in November 2004 by Chinese President Hu Jintao and New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark.

The seventh round of negotiations will be held in New Zealand this May.