MEMBERSHIP OF G.A.T.T.

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 26945, 22 January 1953, Page 6

MEMBERSHIP OF G.A.T.T.

TALKS ON JAPAN’S ADMISSION N.Z. TO BE REPRESENTED BY OBSERVER (New Zealand Press Association) WELLINGTON, January 21. The Government has decided that Mr D. P. Taylor, of the staff of the New Zealand High Commissioner in London, will act as observer at discussions in Geneva on February 2, when a meeting of the intersessional business committee of the General Agreement on Tariffs and 'trade (G.A.T.T.) will be held to examine Japan’s application to become a member of the organisation. The Associate Minister of Finance (Mr C. M. Bowden) said today that Mr Taylor would report to the Government on his observations and the trend of the discussions. The Minister said New Zealand was not a member of the committee, but was entitled to be represented by an observer. The Government regarded Japan’s application for membership in G.A.T.T. as one of considerable importance to New Zealand. Japan had given notice last year of her desire to enter into the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, and the organisation’s intersessional business committee would make a detailed examination of all matters involved, concluded Mr Bowden.