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Labour commits to free trade with Singapore deal

Friday 15th December 2000

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TRADING PARTNERS: Jim Sutton supported Helen Clark's bilateral deal, while Phil Goff turned his attentions elsewhere

TRADE

By Graeme Hunt

The surprising thing about the Singapore-New Zealand Closer Economic Partnership is that it happened at all.

Not only were the Greens, the Alliance and the Labour left against it but trade liberalisation internationally seemed to be on hold.

The credit for sealing the bilateral deal, which frees up trade in goods and services between the two countries, rests with Prime Minister Helen Clark, although she had key front-bench support from Trade Negotiations Minister Jim Sutton and Foreign Affairs Minister Phil Goff.

But Mr Goff's attentions have been elsewhere with the threat to New Zealand peacekeepers in East Timor, the May 19 coup in Fiji Islands and the tribal insurrection in the Solomon Islands.

Ms Clark pressed ahead with the Singapore deal, studiously avoiding the words "free trade" (for fear of antagonising the left), and was able to get the treaty signed at the Apec leaders' summit at Brunei.

That deal, and a five-country "open-skies" aviation agreement promoted by US President Bill Clinton, were the only positives to come out of the Apec summit. Moves toward a seamless Asia-Pacific through the collective actions of Apec members seem to be on hold along with a further WTO trade round.

The Singapore-New Zealand CEP, like the aviation pact, received tacit approval from Apec but the Australians were stung by New Zealand's unexpected success - so much so they started talking to Japan about their own free-trade deal.

New Zealand is now pursuing bilateral deals with Hong Kong and Chile and, ultimately, Japan.

Closer to home much debate took place early in the year on a currency union between New Zealand and Australia - the so-called Anzac dollar.

Little consensus emerged from business, despite the tumble of the kiwi against the greenback, but the merger of the Australian and New Zealand stock exchanges remains a live issue.

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