Minister seeks trade policy reform

Press, 7 February 1986, Page 26

Minister seeks trade policy reform

PA Wellington The Minister of Overseas Trade and Marketing, Mr Moore, has marked 1986 as the year he will concentrate on trade policy and "obstacle bashing.” In an address outlining four main objectives for the year, Mr Moore said he would concentrate on G.A.T.T. (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade), the E.E.C., C.E.R., and “preparing cases to take to the Government on removing ‘road blocks’.”

“Our first and greatest hope is G.A.T.T.,” he told the New Plymouth Chamber of Commerce and the Export Institute.

G.A.T.T. set the rules for international trade, but the rules did not cover agriculture. “We are working to put agriculture under the same rules as other industries,” Mr Moore said. “New Zealand could feed the world without any problem if it were allowed to compete freely on a free and proper market.” Mr Moore identified United States protectionism as a threat to world trade, and said the stage was set for reforming G.A.T.T. or facing a return to the “law of the jungle, or a massive political alignment of threatening proportions.” He said he would continue to campaign against the “protectionist” subsidies of E.E.C. countries which allowed European farm products to outdo

much cheaper New Zealand goods. “We are doing extremely well there in products that are non-tradi-tional, but the truth is that in dairy and meat we are fighting for a standstill.” “We have done better than many of our competitors in Europe and I hope to be able to do the same this year, and so this year will see me in Europe far too often. For that I make no apology," said Mr Moore. Closer economic relations with Australia had been successful for New Zealand, he said. “We are doing extremely well but this can be seen only as a first step.”

Discussion at Mr Moore’s “go bush” meeting at Waitomo last week had made it clear that he would need to spend time trying to remove obstacles.

“What are the obstacles that stand in the way of making Wellington a banking centre of the world?” Mr Moore said. “What are the obstacles standing in the way of getting our premier $1.2 billion industry, tourism, to grow even faster?”

The Government would have to work on the Town and Country Planning Act, so that some projects such as the Mount Cook skifield could be put through faster and not have to "wade through 10 years of costly planning procedures,” said Mr Moore.