Commonwealth View Of European Trade Group

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28802, 24 January 1959, Page 11

Commonwealth View Of European Trade Group

(New Zealand Press Association)

PALMERSTON N, January 23. _A new approach was needed in the negotiations with the six countries of Europe which, composed the European Economic Community, the Commonwealth Relations Conference felt when it discussed world trade today, according to a statement issued at the end of the conference. It was felt that the further division of Europe, and the exclusion of the United Kingdom from participating in some form of association with these arrangements, could lead to grave consequences In both the political and economic fields, which would affect the future of the Commonwealth and other nations. The governments of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth countries should consider the advisability of conducting joint negotiations with the six, it was said. The Commonwealth should be prepared to consider variations in the system of mutual preferences which at present obtains within it. Sacrifices Such concessions, with their obvious advantages to Europe, would entail some sacrifice on the part of all Commonwealth countries, and the degree of any such concessions must be affected by the state of development of the Commonwealth country concerned. In any event the free entry of staple foodstuffs into the United Kingdom should be preserved. If such a course is to be contemplated by the Commonwealth it would have to be upon the clear understanding that the six countries of Europe would agree to the admission of the United Kingdom and other Western European countries to arrangements for the removal, on equal terms, of restrictions on trade inside Western Europe: that arrangements would be made for giving reasonable access to Europe for Commonwealth products, including tropical products, and that the Commonwealth would be able to share fully in supplying the expanding markets of Europe for products of all kinds, including agricultural products in the future, the statement said. It was also considered that the United States should be fully informed by all the countries of the Commonwealth of their intentions and invited to assist with a solution. International Relations The Commonwealth should more frequently act in harmony to find political solutions for situations which, if allowed to

held’ war, it was It was said that Commonwealth nations share a common concern to make the United Nations a more effective instrument for the preservation of world peace. Commonwealth countries should so act as to encourage the United Rations to accept responsibility for practical 'measures to resolve potentially-dangerous situations without waiting for a crisis to arise. The conference took note of the arrangements already existing for informal Commonwealth consultation in the United Nations, but agreed that all Commonwealth Governments should make more constructively effective use of them. Common Action in U.N. It was agreed that closer and more frequent common action in the United Nations on relatively minor matters could lead to better co-operation on matters of major importance. Members of the Commonwealth should z be ready to for go some measure of the exercise of their independence on matters which are not vitally fundamental to them as individual nations. The Commonwealth could, on major matters on which there is no basic disagreement between its members, exercise a greater influence on international affairs than it has in the past or than any individual member nation can hope to in the future. Although there can be no question of surrender to militant communism, constructive measures should be taken leading towards more normal relations with the Communist bloc, including those with Communist China, both in the economic and the diplomatic spheres. It is a prime interest for all Commonwealth nations to take such further action as may be practicable to resolve’ any disputes between Commonwealth countries, some of which were recognised as a major and dangerous source of instability \in the world as a whole and in the Commonwealth in particular.