After the summit meeting

Press, 21 February 1978, Page 16

After the summit meeting

The regional Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting held last week in Sydney, apart from the act of terrorism, appeared to go smoothly. If success is to be measured in whether those taking part thought the experiment worth repeating, then it was successful: India has agreed to host the next regional summit meeting The Sydney meeting had several advantages over the full Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting With 12 countries taking part, discussion was easier than with the 36 which make up the Commonwealth. At the full meeting the leaders frequently read their statements and the give and take of informal discussions is more limited. At Sydney there was a real interchange of ideas. This was of particular moment to the smaller Pacific States which have felt lost in the full Commonwealth meetings in the past Not only was their voice louder but it was a chance for other nations which do not usually think much about the South Pacific—lndia in particular—to become acquainted with their problems. India is even showing some interest in supnlving a small amount of aid to the region. A number of practical working bodies have been set up because of the summit meeting One deals with trade access for the developing countries, another with sources of energv. another with drugs, a fourth with terrorism, and a fifth is an extension of the Commonwealth Secretariat, which will work with the South Pacific Bureau of Economic Co-oneration to examine the problems of Pacific Islands in trade access to the developed countries, Australia and New Zealand.

Such working groups should have some uses Considerable pressure on New Zealand and Australia to grant more access for Asian goods is already being applied bilaterally and in international bodies New Zealand and Australia. however, could scarcely grant access to goods from Commonwealth countries but not from other regional countries. One interesting development was that the larger developing countries. such as India, agreed that on certain goods, they should modify their own demands to allow the smaller develoning nations to make some progress. Room exists for drug co-operation, but doubts must be entertained about the effectiveness of dealing with the

regional drug problems if Thailand and Burma, the sources of many of the drugs, are not present. The relationship between the new working groups and the other bodies which deal with the same problems has yet to be established. By playing host to the conference as well as initiating it, Australia has taken another step towards asserting itself as a regional leader. Australia, which is more given to seeing itself as a lonely post of European civilisation close to an overpopulated Asia than is New Zealand, is at pains to be on very good relations with its neighbours. The summit meeting was part of that overall policy Questions must remain about whether sufficient identity of interest exists between countries like India, Bangladesh, and Sri on the one hand, and the Pacific nations on the other, for meaningful initiatives to be taken. But Australia is an Indian Ocean State as well as a Pacific State and the inclusion of the other Indian Ocean States was inevitable Australia’s proposal to hold the full Commonwealth summit meeting in 1981 will further Australia’s chosen role. One result of the bomb that went off outside the hotel where the Heads of Government were staving was that Australia will probablv never be the same again as far as securitv is concerned Perhans the feeling will spread to New Zealand as well Once the bomb had gone off Australia turned on a huge securitv performance, to the extent that those at the conference found it better to stav in the hotel lest thev could not get back in The visits of any Heads of State in future are likelv to be attended bv heavv securitv As far as relations between New Zealand and Australia are concerned, the Australian Prime Minister (Mr Fraser) anneared to take some trouble to treat the New Zealand PHnie Minister (Mr Muldoon! well, and Mr Mnldnnn attemnted to lay at rest views about a rift between him and Mr Fraser The iHiosvneratic remark that he did not care what the Australians thought would not have been helpful to the tour of the Australian states bv the Minister of Foreign Affairs (Mr Talbovs) next month Rut Mr Talbovs has received an invitation to stav at Mr Fraser’s farm and this rare invitation may mean that Australia is taking New Zealand overtures seriously.