Pacific concept emerges

Press, 2 June 1982, Page 16

Pacific concept emerges

NZPA staff correspondent Hong Kong No-one appears to quite know how it will evolve, but at government, business, and academic levels there is increasing discussion of the Pacific Economic Community concept. The twenty-first'century, it seems, will be the age of the Pacific. , “The world centre of gravity will unavoidably shift to the Pacific region, which is enormously endowed with both human and material resources, long cultural traditions and scientific and technical ingenuity," one of Thailand's Deputy Prime Ministers, Dr Thanat Khoman, told delegates to the Pacific Basin Economic Council meeting in Nagoya, Japan. Attention focused on the P.E.C. concept during the Nagoya meeting, which brought together 275 businessmen from ,23 countries bordering on the Pacific Ocean.' During the next couple of weeks it will emerge again, first at a conference in Bangkok and then again, perhaps to a lesser • extent, at. the Pacific resources seminar in Sydney at which the Prime Minister (Mr Muldoon) is expected to speak. Much of the present initiative for the. concept is coming from the businessmen, and the theme of this year's Nagoya' conference was “Pacific interdependence: development of the Pacific economic co-operation concept.” • But as an organisation dominated by its founders, the United States, Canada, Japan, Australia and New Zealand, P.B.E.G.’s motives are viewed with some suspicion by less developed nations. At Nagoya, Tonga’s Minister of Education. Works and Civil Aviation, Dr S. Langi Kavaliku, told delegates that the proposed development of a Pacific community ignored "the tiny dots" in the Pacific Ocean because they provided small markets, had limited resources, little financial capacity; not much political clout and were of low strategic value. : Dr Thanat, presenting an

Association of South-East Asian Nations viewpoint, said A.S.E.A.N. would not accept anything that may undermine its existence or dilute its cohesiveness and identity. But in a . pragmatic address welcomed by many, delegates, he acknowledged that a Pacific co-operation system would never be com-, pleted without South-East Asian participation. He spoke of “a monumental enterprise,” which could serve more than two-thirds of humanity and said there were areas where the A.S.E.A.N. countries could "derive certain advantages” from larger and more advanced partners. Dr Thanat will be host to a Bangkok conference which will explore more closely the attitudes of governments and academics to the concept. Government officials attending have been invited in their private capacity. New Zealand’s representation includes a senior Foreign Affairs official. Mr D. K. McDowell, who is a- former High Commissioner in Fiji. It will be preceded by a meeting of experts held under the auspices of the United Nations Educational and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific. The Bangkok conference is a follow-up to a similar one held in Canberra nearly two years ago. It recommended the establishment of a non-govern-mental standing committee on Pacific affairs to examine important issues and problems and make the results available to interested parties, including governments. Dr Thanat is hoping the Bangkok meeting will examine’ specific issues ..and problems . in trade, investment, resources and other areas to establish more clearly the benefits of improved co-operation. . The possibility of setting up a standing committee could be revived. If there is one thing clearcut about the P.E.C. concept it is that no-one is expecting overnight results. • . ■ The New Zealand delegate, Mr John Fair told the Nagoya meeting that a Pacific Economic Community may be an ever-evolving concept.

“P.E.C. may benefit more from study and evolution than from forced impetus,” he said..<.,:, ■ The outgoing president, Sir James Vernon, of Australia, in an address which warned that economic relationships would inevitablycome under strain as countries, ’'reacted to ' harsher economic situations, wondered whether the term, “Pacific-Economic Community," was. wrong. P.E.C., he said, did not imply some Pacific counterpart of the E.E.C. Sir James said P.B.E.C. used the term P.E.C. "in its broadest sense to mean the pursuit of improved forms of communication, consultation <and co-operation within the region, aimed at,optimising economic benefits." It was difficult to envisage any single organisation adequate for the whole task and progress was more likely to come from a variety of initiatives. Enthusiasm for P.E.C. is probably at its highest in Japan, which as' a wealthy and wholly. Pacific country could perhaps be expected to emerge as the dominant force in any formalised structure. . ' Japan’s former Foreign Minister, Mr Saburo Okita, - now chairman of his country’s Institute for Domestic and International Policy Studies, likened P.E.C. to a number of streams that would eventually become a confluence of small rivers into a big river. He told a P.B.E.C. luncheon that perhaps a functional approach,.dealing with specific issues such as energy, would eventually move toward some umbrella-type organisation. "Any organisation should be non-gdvernment, but you would have government officials participating as experts and not as government officials,” he said. "It would need to be a tripartite approach involving business, academics: and government experts." The. role of government involvement is a difficult one. particularly when you consider the varying sensitivities of the governments in many parts.;of the Pacific basin.. '

Mr Hugh Stevens, of Canada, who succeeds Sir James Vernon as president of P.8.E.C., has suggested that the effectiveness of existing bilateral trade agreements could be improved with a recognition by governments that the ultimate goal may be to advance them to multilateral agreements. He also said the private ■ sector should encourage governments to develop uniform rules for such matters as tariffs, documentation, investment codes and taxation. Another problem facing P.E.C. is the role to be played by Communist countries. particularly China, which do not have the free

market economies on which the whole concept hinges. It has been suggested they could play a limited role by participation in such areas as energy. At this stage, PE.C. is being regarded as a concept that could envolve into something more substantive. There is a reluctance to involve governments more ' than necessary, and in its ultimate form the concept envisages a Pacific basin freed of trade and investment barriers without loss of sovereignty. It could well take another faltering step in Bangkok this week. Nagoya served to emphasise that the concept is far from dead.