Thailand P.M.’s visit

Press, 3 September 1981, Page 16

Thailand P.M.’s visit

The South-East Asian political leader of whom New Zealand sees the most is Mr Lee Kuan Yew, Prime Minister of Singapore, who is coming here again soon. Visits from political leaders in Thailand are rare indeed. The visit of General Prem Tinsulananda, Prime Minister of Thailand, which ended on Monday, was a reminder that Thailand is of special interest to New Zealand. Many of the illicit drugs which enter New Zealand come from, or through, that country; Thailand has been caught in the problem of refugees from Indo-China; some New Zealand aid goes to Thailand; when the South-East Asia Treaty Organisation was functioning both New Zealand and Thailand were active participants; and Thailand is one of the five countries in the Association of SouthEast Asian Nations. A further point, made by General Prem and others in his party while he was in New Zealand, is that Thailand has a growing economy and should be of interest both to traders and investors in New Zealand.

The economy of Thailand, according to official figures, has been growing at the rate of 7 per cent to 8 per cent a year. By any standards, this is a rapid rate of growth. Although Thailand’s biggest trading partner is Japan, Thailand is keen to diversify its sources of investment. The extent to which New Zealand investors would be interested in Thailand is open to question. Nevertheless, one joint venture, a chicken-processing deal settled while the party was in New Zealand, may prove to be an example to others.

In South-East Asia, New Zealand’s relations have been heavily concentrated in Singapore and in Malaysia, both countries having long Commonwealth and other links with New Zealand. The remaining members of A.S.E.A.N, the Philippines,

Indonesia, and Thailand, have cultures that seem much more foreign to New Zealanders. However, for trade purposes, it may be argued that Thailand is trying to follow the examples of Singapore, Taiwan, and South Korea, which started off their industrial growth in textiles, later switched to electronics, and still later to heavy industries such as steel and ship-building. Much of Asia has shown remarkable growth at a time in which much of the rest of the world has had slow growth or none. New Zealand’s trade with Thailand is not remarkable. In the year ended June 30, 1981, New Zealand sold goods to Thailand worth $44.4 million. These consisted of milk powder, anhydrous fats, paper, cardboard, and aluminium. The value of imports from Thailand dropped during the year to $6.5 million from $ll.l million in the previous year. The decline is accounted for largely because the purchase of sugar in the earlier year was not repeated. The imports have been mostly of jewellery, shellfish, textiles, and tobaco.

The over-all pattern of New Zealand’s trade with Asia is that the market now accounts for 27.5 per cent of New Zealand’s exports. Most of the trade is done in NorthEast Asia, Japan, China, South Korea, and Taiwan, and this accounts for 19.8 per cent of the total. A.S.E.A.N. countries take 6.8 per cent of our exports. Among the A.S.E.A.N. countries, Singapore took New Zealand goods worth $96 million in the last trade year, enough to place Singapore in the first 10 of New Zealand’s markets. Indonesia took goods worth $94 million. The lesson from these figures is that although the countries of North-East Asia will probably continue to be by far the biggest markets, the countries of A.S.E.A.N. will have an increasing significance.