Boost for trade scheme

By Brian Fallow

WELLINGTON - The Government is boosting by $50,000 the funding for a programme designed to assist export industries with specific non-tariff access problems.

The Overseas Trade Minister, Dr Lockwood Smith, said next week's budget would allocate $450,000 over the current fiscal year for the Trade Access Support Programme (TASP).

TASP was set up as part of last October's Policies for Progress package, with a budget for the current year of $400,000. Among the projects undertaken so far are:

* Translating a pine users' manual into Chinese.

* Translating Japanese building standards law into English.

* Bringing agriculture officials to New Zealand to see local standards in action, in a bid to address phyto-sanitary barriers to horticultural exports.

Dr Smith said exporters encountering barriers to trade should contact the ministry to discuss strategies to achieve improved market access, which might involve a project funded through TASP.