P.M. in Montreal after weary trip

Press, 22 September 1978, Page 2

P.M. in Montreal after weary trip

INZPA Montreal i The Prime Minister (Mr Muldoon) arrived in Montreal yesterday looking fatigued' after a 23-hour flight, from Niue but plunged right into the twoday Commonwealth finance ministers’ meeting. He flew to Montreal after attending the South Pacific Forum conference. His private secretary (Mr E Buckton) described the trip as the most exhausting he had had in 20 years of accompanying Ministers overseas. During a brief stop in the United States, Mr Muldoon said little had been done in the last year to cure the worlds’ basic economic problems. He would tell Commonwealth finance ministers that the fundamental difficulty of balance-of-payments surpluses and deficits had not been attacked. “The oil-rich countries and major industrial nations over-all are still in surplus," said Mr Muldoon. “This [means inevitably that the rest of the world, the poorer

nations and developed agricultural producers such as New Zealand, is in a deficit situation. “Every year those deficits accumulate on top of previous deficits and are offset ■ only by aid or limited debt cancellation.” Mr Muldoon said that : New Zealand would continue to Concentrate its overseasaid efforts in the South Pa- : cific. “That is the problem of a size we can handle,” he said. “Let some of the big countries worry about Africa and other countries around the world.” Mr Muldoon said that New Zealand and Australia could help the small South Pacific nations overcome problems posed by the squeeze. of international trade and balance-of-pay-ments deficits. Of the South Pacific Forum meeting, he said the discussion on fishing zones had been the most difficult the group of 12 had ever faced. The forum had decided to establish a fishing agency

■ but had put off the question of a fishing convention for further study. Some forum members would not sign if the United States was in- . eluded and others would not sign if it was not a partner. “The important thing was that the forum agreed to move forward unanimously , on the fishing agency, with further study on the effect of having the Americans in,” said Mr Muldoon. The convention as discussed would have allowed membership for the United States, Britain and France and their Pacific territories, and Chile, which administers Easter Island, in addition to the forum members. The Philippines and Indonesia, which are in the area defined in the convention would also have been able to join. Some of the forum members who did not want the United States in argued that there was no guarantee American membership would mean recognition of island members’ rights over migratory fish, including the right to collect royalties.