Tongan trade plea

Press, 1 November 1977, Page 3

Tongan trade plea

PA Wellington The Tongan Government fears that its trade deficit with New Zealand was “becoming a crisis situation,” a senior member of that Government said on arriving in Wellington yesterday for negotiations with the New Zealand Government.

He is Tonga's Minister for Labour, Commerce, and Industries, (Baron Vaea), who is leading a 12-man trade mission on an 11-day visit to New Zealand. “At the moment, the trade deficit is close on SSM and this is likely to increase all the time,” he said. “This is the main reason why we are here, to find out any possible way of more of our products coming to this country.”

Baron Vaea said that Tonga would like New Zealand to take more Tongan products such as bananas, fresh fruit and vegetables, and dessicated coconut and to buy what Tonga was likely to produce in the future.

Under New Zealand’s Pacific islands industrialdevelopment scheme “we expect manufacturers from New Zealand to come to us and we would like New Zealand to take some of these products.”

The first priority for Tonga was the development of its agriculture, and fisheries. Most of the loan applications to the Development Bank, established in September, were aimed at this.

“But if they continue to grant loans on agriculture,

there must be an outlet for what they produce,” said Baron Vaea. There would also be Development Bank loans for manufacturing industries. Tonga had recently introduced an industrial-in-centive policy to encourage overseas manufacturers to establish themselves in Tonga.

Flis colleagues in the trade mission had talked with many importers in Auckland last week “and it is most gratifying to hear that it is likely that more of our primary products could be sent to these importers.” In Wellington, the mission will meet Government officials, the Chamber of Commerce, the Bureau of Importers and Exporters, the Development Finance Corporation, and individual importers and exporters.