TRADE RELATIONS

Evening Star, Issue 19199, 16 March 1926, Page 6

TRADE RELATIONS

HEW ZEALAND AND JAPAN VALUE OF CO-OPERATION STRESSED In the course of an interview after bis visit to the Exhibition, Mr lycmasa Tokngawa (Consul-General for Japan in Australia and New Zealand and the South Pacific generally) stressed the great possibilities of increased trade between New Zealand and Japan, ana the great value of co-operation between 5 the two countries as a means of promoting tlio economic development and the general well-being of both, “Japan is not such a distant country as it mierht often bo imagined to be” ho eaidT “Wo are bordering on the PaciSc, and now that the Pacific is becoming, if it has not already become, one of the centres of world pi ogress, i firmly believe that all the nations bordering on that ocean should co-opexate at all costs in the direction of promoting and maintaining peace in that aiea and even beyond it. r lho_ economic conditions in the two countries are to a large extent complementary, although time has not allowed us to develop our trade a much as it might be developed. f believe wo can look forward to the time when there will bo a greater interchange of commerce between Japan and New Zealand. DIRECT SHIPPING SERVICE. “One thing that will bo necessary to secure this will undoubtedly be a direct shipping service between the two countries, but this, of course, will depend on the growth of trade, as shipping and trade aro intox dependent. When I slated that the economic conditions of both countries were complementary I meant that you had enormous natural resources in the way of raw material, which we can utilise to advantage in our industries. Our natural resources arc limited, but our industries aro expanding at a _vcry satisfactory rate. With co-operation I think a good deal might be done to develop the trade of Hie two countries. The basis of co-operation is friendship, and the basis of friendship is mutual understanding, which can only bo attained by a good knowledge of each other. In order to got that knowledge frequent contact is necessary, and, therefore, I am a strong believer in an interchange of visits between New Zealanders and Japanese, either in the shape of commercial missions or parliamentary delegations, on the same lines as interchanges have taken place between Japan and European countries or America in the past. In this way men in responsible positions would have conferences, which would do a lot of good in bringing the ideals of each nation before the other, and eventually result in that co-operation which would advance the interests of both. It is my earnest hope to come back again to Now Zealand in the near future and seo more of the country.”