New Zealand Trade Minister Tim Groser believed China's plans to raise domestic consumption while reducing its reliance on exports and investment, would economically benefit New Zealand.

New Zealand has a free trade agreement with China.

Groser was in Switzerland for the World Trade Organization trade ministers meeting.

He said to New Zealand media that exports to China had gone up by almost 48 percent in the past year, so this latest development could only be good for New Zealand.

Groser said that was a 1.1 billion NZ dollars (780 million U.S. dollars) increase.