Mr Moore to push case for continued butter access

Press, 13 June 1986, Page 3

Mr Moore to push case for continued butter access

By

MARTIN FREETH

in Wellington The Minister of Overseas Trade, Mr Moore, will leave for Europe again today to push New Zealand’s case for continued butter access. The trip is another element in the Government’s two-year strategy leading up to decisions by the European Council of Agricultural Ministers on quotas for New Zealand’s butter trade with Britain over the next two years. “There has not been one Minister of Agriculture or Minister of Economic Development who has not been touched by us in the last couple of years and most of them more than once,” Mr Moore said last evening. He will have a brief meeting with the Prime Minister, Mr Lange, in Wellington today on the latter’s return from a European trip which has also included lobbying for access. “He has moved on one side of it and talked to most people involved and he has managed to isolate some information that I can use,” Mr Moore said. Mr Lange has speculated that the butter quota for 1987 might be cut by 2000 tonnes from this year’s level of 79,000 tonnes, with a further 2000-tonne reduction in

1988. Mr Moore would not discuss his expectations on the quotas except to say New Zealand would prefer as much access as possible. The Council of Ministers is expected to make its decisions about August, on the basis of recommendations from the European Commission. Mr Moore will take with him a six-member group including the president of Federated Farmers, Mr Peter Elworthy, and the president of the Seamen’s Union, Mr Dave Morgan, who will help present a broad image of New Zealand’s interests. The itinerary includes most of the West European capitals, and will include Portugal, which, with Spain, joined the Community only in January. It has had little contact with New Zealand Ministers. Although France is one of the most important Community members, it is not on the itinerary because of the strained relations with New Zealand over the Rainbow Warrior bombing. Mr Moore did not rule out the prospect of a lastminute inclusion of Paris in the trip, should relations improve because of the initiatives to refer the Rainbow Warrior dispute to third-party arbitration.

The Cabinet will consider on Monday proposals for arbitration in the dispute, and asked if that might lead to him visiting Paris, Mr Moore said, “Anything is possible ... my concern is to focus on the agricultural access problem and the Prime Minister will make a decision on whether it is appropriate or not.” The trip will be Mr Moore’s third out of New Zealand this year. He said he might return to Europe, again immediately before the Council of Ministers makes its decisions. However, he did not rule out the possibility of the quota-fixing being delayed again. The strategy has also included a trip by the Minister of Agriculture, Mr Moyle, to Europe this year and the visit to New Zealand recently by the European Community’s External Relations Commissioner, Mr Willy de Clercq. Mr Moore said his lobbying involved the “traditional story” of successive New Zealand Governments, which have sought to maintain access to Europe. He suggested the state of agriculture here and the Government’s removal of subsidies to it strengthened New Zealand’s case for freer access to its export markets.