Vital speech by P.M. today

Press, 22 September 1983, Page 8

Vital speech by P.M. today

From

G. G. SHAND

in Port of Spain

The Prime Minister, Mr Muldoon, will give a speech crucial to his campaign for a new world economic conference at the opening of the Commonwealth Finance Ministers’ meeting in Port of Spain this morning.

Mr Muldoon is the lead speaker in a "world economic situation” debate which will focus on his call for a new Bretton Woods-type conference to reform the world trade and payment system.

Officials say his speech, to be delivered early this morning (New Zealand Time), has to both dampen the expected strong opposition to the idea from particularly the British and Canadian delegations and the equally strong demand of Third World and developing member nations for much greater aid hand-outs

from their richer cousins.

But he is expected to make a strong plea to the 48 attending Finance Ministers to concentrate their discussions on the over-riding need for a conference to tackle what he sees as the serious structural imbalance in the world monetary and trade systems. Although a study group set up under the auspices of the Commonwealth Secretariat last year recently reported that they favoured such a conference, officials here say there is still a lot of opposition from the powerful members such as Britain and Canada.

They regard his conference idea as a “magic wand” approach to solving the world economic problems which cannot work.

“They thought it was a waste of time last year, and their attitude has not changed much,” said one official yesterday. “They believe the economic recovery

will straighten out a lot of the problems.” Mr Muldoon’s other problem is that the poorer nations attending the conference see another Bretton Woods as another opportunity to press home their demands for greater assistance on the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. Mr Muldoon believes such talk belongs more correctly in other forums like the north-south dialogue and, in the well known American opposition to such talk, there is a danger his campaign will collapse if trade payments reform is mixed up with something wider like the redistribution of wealth. The Commonwealth Secretariat’s study report contained much of this rhetoric, and Mr Muldoon is expected to try to steer the debate more to what he believes are more attainable and practical objectives.