Asian inclusion in C.E.R. sought

Press, 23 February 1989, Page 8

Asian inclusion in C.E.R. sought

NZPA-AAP Canberra The National Farmers’ Federation yesterday called for China to enter the closer economic relationship between Australia and New Zealand. “Australia should extend to other countries the closer economic relations (C.E.R.) pact it has made with New Zealand,” the federation’s director of policy, Dr Gus Hooke, said in a discussion paper. The paper was titled “Demand for Australia’s Agricultural Exports in Developing Asia.”

C.E.R. will eliminate all barriers to trade in goods and services between Australia and New Zealand by 1990.

Dr Hooke said Australia should explore the option

of an expanded C.E.R. in case a leading North Asian country such as China entered into a preferential trade agreement with North America. “The outlook for Australia ... would be quite bleak,” Dr Hooke said.

"Should China, for example, with its enormous potential as an importer, enter into such an arrangement, other countries in developing Asia — and also Japan — would be keen to follow suit,” he said.

“If we could expand C.E.R. to involve China, the thin edge of the wedge would work to our advantage.

"Other countries would want to enter the arrange-

ment and with each new Asian country, the market for our agricultural exports would expand.”

It was revealed on Tuesday that the federation’s president, John Allwright, would meet the Prime Minister, Mr Hawke, in Canberra on March 6 and argue for a third C.E.R. partner from the booming Asian region. The federation first raised the idea of expanding C.E.R. 12 months ago, but shelved it after an initially cool reception from New Zealand and Government officials in Canberra. But Mr Hawke unexpectedly resurrected the issue during his recent overseas tour.