‘Planning Must Be Export Oriented'

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31769, 28 August 1968, Page 1

‘Planning Must Be Export Oriented '

(From Our Own Reporter)

WELLINGTON, Aug. 27.

Planning in New Zealand must be export oriented, the opening speakers at the National Development Conference emphasised today.

Both the Prime Minister (Mr Holyoake) and the Minister of Industries and Commerce (Mr Marshall), who is chairman of the three-day conference, said that export earnings were the key to New Zealand’s economic growth. “We must give high priority to increasing our export income swiftly,” the Prime Minister said.

“The shortage of overseas funds has always been the greatest restraint on New Zealand’s economic growth,” Mr Marshall said. Delegates to the confer-

ence welcomed what they thought was a tacit acceptance by the Government of the conference’s final recommendations, to be made in May, on economic growth in the periods to 1972-73 and to 1978-79. The Prime Minister gave an undertaking that the Government would put its full weight behind all practicable measures.

New Zealanders had never been wanting in their ability to adapt themselves to new

ways and to meet new situations, he said. “We don’t lack the capacity to produce goods and services or to sell them, but we are sometimes slow in appreciating the rapidly changing conditions in the modern world.”

Planning should be consultative, not something imposed on industry and on the community generally, Mr Marshall said. The small size and compactness of the community permitted such a consultation to a greater degree than in larger countries. The essential message of the targets committee was that unless there was some positive, concerted action to develop the economy New, Zealand could not have the rate of growth to which it had become accustomed.

The warning by the committee should be sufficient to dispel any doubts that the report was just another collec. tion of windy platitudes. The warning elevated the planning exercise from something that, might have been desirable to something which was essential. Although individual sector targets might be varied, the country must not fall short of the over-all export earnings target of an additional s76om a year by 1978-79, Mr Mar shall said.