"Strong" import-export corporation suggested

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 32956, 30 June 1972, Page 3

"Strong" import-export corporation suggested

(New Zealand Press Association) PALMERSTON NORTH, June 29. A strong public corporation dealing with both imports and exports was needed in New Zealand, Mr W. E. Rowling, president of the Labour Party, said today.

Initially the corporation could draw on the private sector for experienced sales staff, he told the Sales and Marketing Executives International Club at Massey University. By importing a large proportion of Government purchases, the corporation would have a multi-miHion dollar budget to use in hard bargaining. It could work in conjunc-

tion with Government, diplomatic and trade officers and the private sector, and thus spearhead a progressive policy of market research. Mr Rowling said the corporation also should be able to negotiate two-way and three-way trade deals and long-term contracts, to feed back long-term growth prospects, and to act as a clearing house in trade with economies with different cost-price structures. Mr Rowling, who was speaking on whether the

Labour Party was marketoriented, said many economic pointers indicated that New Zealand was not making adequate provisions for the rapidly-changing market scene. “If we have to claim our share of the international market spoils, we have a fair amount of domestic housekeeping to do first,” Mr Rowling said. Government spending should be more steady, and the emphasis in taxation should be to place a premium on savings and production. The Government should "keep off the grass” in costsensitive areas, and the Crown reassert its absolute right to issue credit, Mr Rowling said. The banking system should

also be used more effectively, he said. Several major issues in the labour sector also needed attention. New Zealand’s performance in market research had been far from good, Mr Rowling told the club. “For too long we have had an almost blind dependence on the customer purchasing what we produce.” The formalisation of a political and trade structure for the South Pacific also required immediate action, as it was an area of great market potential. “A worth-while starting point is surely the provision of qualified field staff attached to our trade commission offices,” Mr Rowling said. _