PM prepares for Thai trade talks

By FRAN O'SULLIVAN, Assistant Editor

Prime Minister Helen Clark will press New Zealand's case for greater access to the Thailand dairy market in talks with Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra in Wellington tomorrow.

Clark said New Zealand stood to gain quite a significant advantage from the successful conclusion of a bilateral free-trade deal with Thailand.

"We face an average of 18 per cent on our goods going into Thailand - they face very, very minor barriers coming in here."

But she stressed that Government negotiators hoped to get better access for this country's dairy exporters than Australia achieved in its own deal, to be signed in Canberra today.

"Australia negotiated a very long lead-in time for dairy ... that's not one of their key concerns but it is one of our key concerns.

"At the outset we have to signal that we would be looking for a better arrangement than that."

Clark sees the visit as an opportunity to assess whether Thailand is still intent on reaching the original timeline to have the deal ready for signature at November's Apec meeting.

Clark and Thaksin - who will be with seven of his Cabinet ministers - will also discuss the inaugural summit between Asean, New Zealand and Australia which will be held in Laos on November 30.

Thailand has been one of the key Asean (Association of Southeast Asia Nations) countries to support a deal between the 10 Asean nations and CER partners Australia and New Zealand.

Clark said proposed free-trade talks would not be the only item up for discussion at the Laos meeting.

She said New Zealand and Australia would consider the Treaty of Amity and Co-operation, which several of Asean's partners partners had signed.

Adopted by Asean in 1976, the treaty's core principles are the renunciation of the threat of use of force, respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, non-interference in each other's internal affairs and peaceful settlement of disputes.

Japan and Pakistan last week signed the treaty at the 11th annual Asean regional forum in Jakarta.