Pacific Trade Not Replacing European

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31321, 17 March 1967, Page 12

Pacific Trade Not Replacing European

(New Zealand Press Association) WELLINGTON, March 16. The Secretary of External Affairs (Mr Laking) said tonight that trade in the Pacific basin was no substitute for New Zealand’s trade with Britain and Europe.

“We would be putting our heads in the sand, however, if we were to concentrate on Britain and Europe and neglect the opportunities which are opening up for trade expansion closer to home,” he said.

He was speaking at the annual dinner of the Wellington Chambers of Commerce.

Referring to the establishment of a Pacific economic community or free trade area, Mr Laking said. “There have been no formal proposals and no conferences have been told —at government level anyway —to discuss them.” Mr Laking said during the last 10 years, reference had been made to a free trade area embracing Japan, Australia and New Zealand, and some of the countries round the rim of Asia. “Sometimes it has been suggested that the Americas, Asia, and the South Pacific should all be included,” he said. Conditions Different Proposals for a free trade area could not be expected to gather momentum for some time as the conditions which led to the formation of the' Common Market in Europe did I

not yet exist in the Pacific area.

He said the Six recognised that their own survival in a nuclear age required them to reject their historic antagonisms in favour of unity, and that their economic development was, in any event, overrunning national boundaries. “The main characteristic of the Pacific area countries is the diversity of their political and economic interest and the unevenness of their development,” he said. Limited Interest Although New Zealand trade with Japan, North America, Australia and various Asian countries was expanding, New Zealand interest in a Pacific free trade area was limited. “Like some of the countries of Asia, we are ourselves a developing country industrially and we intend to retain the right to protect our existing industries where they warrant it, and to encourage the

development of new ones until they are in a position to withstand outside competition. “We are not prepared to give this up and so we could not consider entering a free trade area unless it gave us safeguards which might, in turn, be unacceptable to the highly industrialised members,” he said. Dependence On U.K.

More important, New Zealand still found its only major outlet for several of its main export products in the British market. “There is simply no alternative to the British market for our agricultural produce.” Mr Laking said New Zealand at present had limited room to manoeuvre in areas other than Europe. “We cannot switch our trade to the Pacific either quickly or in any large degree,” he said. Pacific Trade

“We do, however, have some room for manoeuvre. We are now selling most of our increased production round the Pacific basin rather than in Britain and Europe. “It is important that these efforts should be continued and stepped up, not just because we do have increased quantities of goods to sell, but also because our aspirations for increased sales of agricultural produce to Britain and Europe may not be fulfilled. “It is in this context that the prospect of closer trade arrangements within the Pacific basin makes excellent sense for New Zealand, for it is here that our alternative markets lie.”