Germans reaffirm support for N.Z.

Press, 28 November 1979, Page 3

Germans reaffirm support for N.Z.

NZPA Bonn The New Zealand Deputy: I Prime Minister (Mr Talbovsi will leave Bonn today 1 (N.Z. time) with reassurances of West German backing for: (New Zealand’s fight to con-1 htinue sending butter andi hlamb to the European Econo-] imic Community. i : i After meeting the West! (German Foreign Minister |(Mr Hans-Dietrich Genscher) Ijfor more than an hour, Mr I’Taiboys said Mr Genscher had displayed a complete understanding of N.ew Zealand’s case for continuing access. “He recognised the point: that I had made to others and: made again to him . . . that: the dimensions, the enormity,! call it what you will, of the l political problems within the: agricultural industry here' meant there was inevitabh a] bigger concentration onj | European unity.’’ he said. ] : “What I was seeking from; I him was an understanding: that against that background', the judgments would be! made not just as they affect] commodities like sheepmeatj and butter but with recogni-] tion that they flowed over j : into international relations.’’ Earlier in the day, Mr Tallboys met the Agriculture Minister (Mr Josef Ertl). The j hour-long meeting produced 'what Mr Taiboys called a (sober and realistic picture of (the difficulties with which (European Ministers of Agriculture have to contend. 1 He said there had been no (perceptible lessening of the ■commitment which has made 'West Germany, with Britain, (New Zealand’s strongest ally jin the E.E.C.

i Plans to interrupt Mr Talboys’ negotiations to send him to an International Energy Agency meeting in Paris have taken Mr Taiboys by surprise. Neither he nor any of the senior officials with him knew anything about the proposal, which was made to reporters in Wellington by the Prime Minister (Mr Muldoon), although the possibility of such an interruption was apparently discussed in principle before Mr Taiboys’ departure from Wellington. If Mr Taiboys attends the meeting instead of the Minister of Energy (Mr Birch), it will almost certainly cause the cancellation of Mr Talboys’ planned visit to Athens from December 8 to 11. Greece, due formally to| enter the E.E.C. on January 1, 1981, the same day IJew Zealand’s new butter access arrangements will come into effect, is a significant importer of New Zealand lamb.