N.Z. Urged To Buy From France
New Zealand would have to look to Britain to safeguard its interests if Britain joined the European Common Market, said the French Ambassador in New Zealand (Mr J. F. Duflos) in an interview in Christchurch yesterday.
But, he said, moves to change the present situation in which France bought 10 times more from New Zealand than it sold to this country could strengthen important links with Europe. Mr Duflos, who is making his first visit to Christchurch, said that in the whole Pacific area there was no country more akin to European countries than New Zealand. New Zealand had helped to reestablish freedom in two wars in which it did not have a direct interest. This coincided with what France considered should be the relationship between nations.
Mr Duflos added that at present France bought £2O million worth of goods from New Zealand, but sold only £2 million worth in return.
France was a leading manufacturer of all the components of an efficient railway system, but to his knowledge New Zealand had never bought anything from France for its railway system. Other fields in which trade could be widened were electronics and the aircraft industry. If the balance of trade between the two countries was made more even, it would bring about a strengthening of the links which could be important in the future. It was not the money involved which was the most important factor, but a maintaining of balance between the two economies.
Mr Duflos said he would like to see New Zealand buy
French Mirage jet fighters for the Air Force. Australia had 120 of these aircraft, and they had been sold to South Africa and Canada. This in itself tended to provide a link between nations. The French bomb tests in the Pacific, he said, caused less criticism in New Zealand than was expected. There were several reasons for this, one being that the French Government’s assurance that its precautions would be good enough had proved true.
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Bibliographic details
Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31178, 30 September 1966, Page 1
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337N.Z. Urged To Buy From France Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31178, 30 September 1966, Page 1
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