Tasman exchange of Trade staff proposed

Press, Volume CXIII, Issue 33384, 16 November 1973, Page 1

Tasman exchange of Trade staff proposed

(From PAUL CAVANAGH. N.'Z.P.A. staff correspondent) MELBOURNE, November 15. New Zealand would be prepared to examine the possibility of an exchange of Trade and Industry Department staff between Australia and New Zealand, said the Prime Minister (Mr Kirk) in Melbourne today.

Air Kirk gave this news in a luncheon address to the Victoria Chamber of Manufaeturers. Chamber of Commerce. and Employers’! Federation.

At his meeting with the, Australian Prime Minister t (Mr Whitlam) yesterday,' said Mr Kirk, he had been; able to reach agreement on I. a number of areas in which) increased economic consultation and co-operation be- ' tween Australia and New

11 Zealand would be of mutual ’■ benefit. ,1 There had already been I collaboration in such areas as | increased trading opportunitties between the two countries, co-ordination of marketing in third countries, and the continuing development of the New ZealandAustralia Free Trade Agreement. ‘‘We have asked for recommendations on how to make the most of the prospects that exist,” said Mr Kirk, “and we are prepared to look at an exchange of Trade and Industry Department officials.” Problem areas Such an exchange would enable officials to become familiar with any problem areas, and would provide a means of examining and reconciling any differences which might arise. Co-operation between New Zealand and Australia was high on the list of priorities of both countries, and he and Mr Whitlam had resolved to make a conscious effort to shape Tasman links into a relationship which reflected the social, political, and economic objects of their Governments. Broader survey “There has, of course, been for a long time substantial trans-Tasman cooperation in many fields,” Mr Kirk said. “What is required now is a broader survey, an assessment of the Australia-New Zealand relationship as a whole, a mapping-out of the directions which constructive collaboration could take.” The most vital concern must be co-ordination and the development of the resources of the two countries to the !mutual advantage of both.

These areas included trade —where Mr Kirk hoped for co-operation in approaches to international trade bodies such as G.A.T.T. and U.N.C.T.A.D. and consultation on trade practices. Investment There was financial policy including the field of overseas investment; and economic policy, covering such basic questions as economic growth strategies. “There is transport, where there is a need for a comprehensive joint approach on shipping links, both between the two countries and elsewhere,” Mr Kirk said. “There is energy, an area in which there has so far been very little substantive co-operation between the two countries but where there is a pressing need to revise this attitude,” he said. World situation Mr Kirk said that while the scope for co-operation in economic relations on the global scale was great, the scope for co-operation between Australia and New Zealand was much greater. The changing world situation which left Australia and New Zealand as alone in thv world as they had ever been meant that both countries had to be as strong and prosperous and as high in morale as they possibly could. “Anything that strengthens Australia is good for New Zealand, and 1 think you are realistic enough to see that the reverse is also true,” Mr’ Kirk told the gathering. Co-operation “If this fundamental realisation of our situation in the world is kept at the centre of our thinking, we will obviously make decisions which are informed and permeated by the spirit of co-operation,” he said.

i “For we will know that : the interests of both of us — possibly our continued existance as viable States — depend on our facing up to our i stiuation and drawing the : practical implications in every aspect of our relations, so i that our two nations can make every effort to develop 1 a bond to the mutual advan- ■ tage of both.” Food conference 1 Earlier in his address, Mr ; Kirk had said that New Zea- ' land welcomed the world food conference proposed by ’ the United States Secretary i of State (Dr Henry Kissin- ! ger). Such a conference, how- . ever, should not concern it- ! self with putting cereals into store, said Mr Kirk. It should I be about world trade and production, development as- . sistance, and an assurance for producers that there ■ would be freer world trade rand freer access to world . markets.