Butter deal welcomed

Press, 22 June 1984, Page 8

Butter deal welcomed

PA Wellington The Minister of Overseas Trade and Foreign Affairs, Mr Cooper, found a tonic in the apparent agreement on butter access to Europe. “I am very satisfied about the outcome at this stage,” he has said. He is recovering from surgery to remove a bowel tumour. “We have ended up after long and protracted negotia-

tions with three years, that’s great. It is very very positive for New Zealand,” said Mr Cooper. Sheepfarmers as well as dairy farmers would be pleased with the compromise prompted by Mr Cooper’s letter to European Agriculture Ministers offering to accept the three-year guaranteed access, he said. The Labour Party has welcomed the agreement on

access to the European Economic Community as a sensible compromise. The party’s spokesman on trade and marketing, Mr M. K. Moore, said in Christchurch last evening that he was pleased with the deal. “I hope to be Minister of Trade and Marketing and this means we will be able to spend less time in Europe and concentrate on new markets and new ideas,” Mr Moore said.

He said that in 1940 New Zealand sent 80 per cent of all its produce to Britain, a figure which had now dropped to 13 per cent. “The challenge for me as a new Minister will be to diversify our products as successfully as Joe Walding diversified their destinations,” he said, referring to the third Labour Government.