Trade focus of talks

Press, 18 May 1984, Page 3

Trade focus of talks

NZPA staff correspondent Paris

Ministers of the Organisation for Economic Co-opera-tion and Development are expected to focus on trade at their two-day annual meeting which opens in Paris today. About 80 per cent of the papers for discussion are on trade and investment, officials said.

World payments and debt would not be a central point in discussions this year. The only “sour point” likely to be raised was United States fiscal policy and interest rates.

The Prime Minister, Sir Robert Muldoon, a regular

attender at O.E.C.D. meetings, is expected to speak today. He flew to Paris from London after chairing what he said was a successful meeting of the Commonwealth consultative group on global economic issues.

It was attended by Finance Ministers and officials from the eight countries in the group which was formed after last year’s Commonwealth summit meeting in New Delhi.

The British Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr Nigel Lawson, and the Canadian Finance Minister, Mr Marc Lalonde, were among the

Ministers at the meeting. The Ministers asked the Commonwealth SecretaryGeneral, Sir Shridath Ramphal, to sound out countries and groups outside the Commonwealth on establishing a group to look at world economic issues in the context of the “new Bretton Woods” initiative. The ’ Commonwealth Ministers will meet again before the Commonwealth Finance Ministers’ meeting in Toronto in September.

The Commonwealth was uniquely placed to take the initiative on this because it had members throughout the world, embracing north-south nations, Sir Robert said.