Minister to push reform of trade

Press, 27 January 1987, Page 2

Minister to push reform of trade

PA ■ Wellington Agricultural trade reform could beat world hunger, according to the Minister of Overseas Trade and Marketing, Mr Moore.

Mr Moore is starting for a two-week overseas trip in which he intends to slam a system which can produce both mass starvation and food surpluses at the same time.

It was in everyone’s interests to mount a major push to end the “obscene misallocation of resources,” he said.

“By transferring the agricultural subsidies we can feed the hungry, break the world debt cycle and re-arm the economies of Europe with competitive industrial technology, dictated by the market.”

Intellectual poverty and political compromises were to blame for a global food and trade crisis, which he believed could be quickly fixed, he said at a press conference.

Thirteen million people were dying of hunger a year because common sense and principle had surrendered to subsidies and protectionism.

Mr Moore will be among more than 50 leaders from around the world who will gather in Davos, Switzerland on January 30 for an informal discussion on issues affecting the world economy.

Mr Moore said his initiative also fitted in with New Zealand’s interests in pressing for world agricultual trade reform through the new round of negotiations under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade.

Mr Moore will also briefly visit Perth where he will give the New Zealand America’s Cup challenge syndicate more than 78,000 messages of support which were not bureaufaxed while KZ7 met Stars and Stripes. He will spend some time in London, meeting British Government Ministers, and will also fly to Bahrain for trade talks before returning to New Zealand on February 9.