Creation of a Pacific group moves closer

Press, 22 September 1980, Page 28

Creation of a Pacific group moves closer

NZPA-Correspondent Sydney

Further tentative steps towards the creation of a Pacific Community have been taken at a seminar in Canberra.

But the high-powered officials and delegates from all the main countries in the region have firmly rejected any move towards a European Economic Community-type arrangement.

Mr Graeme Thompson, chief economist of the New Zealand Planning Council, and one .of the three New Zealand delegates, said from Canberra there was “absolutely no support” for an E.E.C.-type concept. However, there was agreement that further talks on the idea should be held, although the exercise should proceed cautiously. It was proposed by delegates to the three-day seminar that a Pacific cooperation committee of about 25 members be set which would then establish task forces to look into key areas involved.

Mr Thompson said the next step was for governments throughout the Pacific to decide if the committee should be established.

One main point of agreement was that the moves towards a Pacific Community should not. threaten the existing Association of S.outh-East Asian Nations (A.S.E.A.N.) and Pacific Forum arrangements, said Mr Thompson. People wanted a loose structure that would help develop understanding throughout the region. “Everyone saw there were advantages in discussion of Pacific-wide issues and there was a set of Pacific-wide issues that need action.”

Main areas where there was need for Pacific discussion were those of trade and market access, particularly for agricultural products, questions .of direct investment which affected not only developing countries but developed countries such as Canada and New Zealand, energy and marine resource issues, and transport. More than 30 academics and .others together with government officials acting

in a private capacity were at the seminar held at the Australian National Uni- ' versity. < The fiive A.S.E.A.N, •' countries — the Philip- . pines, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand — •? Australia, Canada, Japan, ;• New Zealand, South Korea, < the United States, and - Pacific Island countries > were represented. : The idea of promoting > closer co-operation amongst countries of the Pacific region has been mooted for some years and has been promoted par- 7 ticularly by academic ■ economists in Japan, Australia, and the United 3> States. '■

Lately the Pacific Basin Economic Council., an or- / ganisation of businessmen i from throughout the region, including New Zea-< | land, has been investigat- ■: ing the concept in more > detail and it has also re- 1 ceived stimulus from the • late Prime Minister of.> Japan, Mr Masayoshi Ohira.