NZ Times
Staff Reporter Patric Lane 29/08/00 13:32:00
A perception that Australia is a hard country to do business with may be an obstacle to the formation of an Asia-Pacific free-trade area, says Trade Negotiations Minister Jim Sutton.
A study group has been looking at the idea of linking the trans-Tasman Closer Economic Relations (CER) partnership with the 10-country South East Asian free trade area, AFTA.
Ministers from the countries involved are due to meet in Thailand in October to consider the group's report and decide whether to launch negotiations.
Mr Sutton said today one of the obstacles to a wider FTA agreement was the common perception among the Asian nations that Australia used biosecurity as a guise for technical barriers to trade, blocking exports into the Australian food product market.
Canberra and the state governments have been at odds over some trade issues, such as a Tasmanian move to ban salmon imports.
Mr Sutton said some of the feedback from the ASEAN nations was that this may be the biggest single obstacle.
He said Tasmania seemed to have adopted an extreme position, but by and large he believed that the state ministers appreciated they had to reach a relationship with the commonwealth government that allowed Australia to speak with one voice and be a reliable country to deal with on such matters.
The Minister believed the Australians were wholeheartedly in support of the FTA proposal, and that he was encouraging Australia to resolve the differences between the states and Canberra on quarantine and biosecurity issues.
Mr Sutton also said there had been some indications of political opposition to the plan in the ASEAN countries, and he expected there would be in New Zealand as well.
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