Atrocities in US 'could spur trade liberalisation'

By SIMON HENDERY

The terror attacks on the United States could prove to be a "defining moment" in international trade liberalisation, says prominent businessman Sir Dryden Spring.

Sir Dryden, one of three New Zealand representatives on the Apec Business Advisory Council (Abac), said the big nations had tended to "toy with going alone" on trade issues.

But the US now realised that the only effective way to fight terrorism was with multilateral help.

In return for supporting its anti-terrorism campaign, the US would have to open the door to increased economic cooperation and trade liberalisation, said Sir Dryden.

The former Dairy Board chairman made the comments yesterday at the launch of an Abac report - Common Development Through Market Opening, Capacity Building and Full Participation - which will be presented to Apec leaders when they meet in Shanghai next month.

New Zealand's other Abac representatives are Montana executive chairman Peter Masfen and publisher Wendy Pye, of the Wendy Pye Group.

The report, written before the September 11 terror attacks, urges Apec leaders to accelerate progress towards trade and investment liberalisation.

"The pronounced slowdown in the world economy has put severe financial pressures on some economies," the report says.

It says the deadline for realising commitments under the Bogor Declaration (the removal of trade barriers by 2010 in developed countries and 2020 in less-developed ones) is fast approaching.

"Apec's credibility is at stake unless it can demonstrate political will and decisively translate commitments into concrete actions to achieve the Bogor goals of trade and investment liberalisation and facilitation," the report says.

Sir Dryden said that although the report had been written before the terror attacks "the events of September 11 deepen the concerns we were expressing in the report, and that makes our recommendations even more valid".

He said it was significant and encouraging that soon after the attacks, and despite security concerns, the US had committed itself to attending a new multilateral trade round due to be launched in November in the Gulf state of Qatar.

"Now is not the time to get back into the bunker."

Sir Dryden said Abac's push to bring in Apec's proposed "food system" was important for New Zealand because of the significance of food exports to the local economy.

The food system aims to ensure the long-term availability of food at affordable prices and to "maximise the food sector's contribution to sustainable growth".

Abac wants the Apec leaders to renounce the use of food embargoes and declare Apec a "food export subsidy-free zone".