[asia-apec 1165] APEC in Auckland

[Gatt Watchdog]

 APEC-PROTEST 
APEC PROTESTERS PUSHED ALONG AUCKLAND WATERFRONT
   Auckland, June 29 NZPA - Police today pushed and jostled about 30 
protesters more than 50 metres along Auckland's waterfront this 
afternoon to clear them away from a jetty where visiting Asia 
Pacific trade ministers were due to board a luxury ferry.
   More than 40 police formed a tight line and pushed the 
protesters, who chanted and carried placards opposing the Asia 
Pacific Economic Co-operation (Apec) organisation, through a carpark 
away from the jetty.
   One of the protesters was briefly separated from his young 
daughter when an officer pulled him back into the protest group 
after he had split off from the group and begun taking photographs 
of it from a short distance away.
   While a line of officers held the protesters in place about 50 
metres from where the ministers were due to board the boat, several 
members of the public -- along with media and Apec officials and 
security staff -- mingled just metres from where the ministers' bus 
pulled up.
   A senior officer told NZPA the protesters were told to move only 
after being given a ``split second'' of warning before they were 
pushed back.
   The police action in pushing the protesters back created some 
tetchiness on both sides, but it never threatened to escalate beyond 
jostling.
   Protesters, who included unemployed workers' rights activist Sue 
Bradford, responded by accusing the police of being ``servants of 
foreign powers'' who were committing ``thuggery'' against their own 
people.
   Police media manager Robyn Orchard said the protesters were not 
given warning because it was known they would not co-operate anyway.
   The same protest group had also gathered outside Apec events at 
Aotea Square in the central city on Saturday and yesterday, when 
their megaphones were confiscated because police believed they were 
too loud and their hearing was threatened.
   Security at this week's meeting, attended by trade ministers or 
senior officials from many of the world's most powerful countries, 
including the United States, China, Russia, and Japan, has otherwise 
been low-key. 
   NZPA PAR bs gt
   
  

29/06/99 20-45NZ


 APEC-TRADE-D/L 
APEC AGREEMENT A TRADEOFF FOR LOWER BARRIERS ON NZ PRODUCE
   By Bernie Steeds of NZPA
   Auckland, June 30 -  A small but significant stepping stone 
towards New Zealand's goal of lowering world trade barriers for 
primary produce was put in place yesterday with Asia Pacific trade 
ministers' agreement to press for the scope of key World Trade 
Organisation talks this year to be broadened.
   The agreement, made by ministers meeting in Auckland, whose 
economies together represent more than half of the world's trade, 
was hailed as a ``global breakthrough'' by Trade Minister Lockwood 
Smith.
   Any tangible benefits are likely to be some years off, but Dr 
Smith yesterday indicated some hope of an ``early harvest'', in 
which countries agree to start lowering tariffs on some sectors from 
next year.
   Australian Trade Minister Tim Fischer said Auckland's Apec had 
got off to a ``flying start'' and yesterday's agreement had shown it 
was regaining momentum after its free trade agenda stuttered during 
the Asian crisis last year.
   The key point of the agreement, which was achieved despite some
countries having said early yesterday they would not support it, was 
for Apec to push for lower trade barriers on industrial goods to be 
included in the WTO millennium round of talks.
   Though agriculture and service industries were already set down 
to be included, the move to bring in industrial goods -- anything 
from processed fish to cars -- is seen as a crucial incentive for 
larger economies to take part in the round.
   The hope, from New Zealand's point of view, is that countries 
like Japan might be enticed to lower their high tariffs on primary 
produce in exchange for easier access for their manufactured goods 
into other markets.
   New Zealand is regarded as having more than most other countries 
to gain from any moves for tariff reductions across a broad range of 
goods, as our relatively open markets and other countries' 
protectionist agriculture policies mean New Zealand faces higher 
average tariffs than most other countries.
   Ministers, including Dr Smith, last night defended yesterday's 
decision against accusations it was a kick for touch, similar to 
last year's when Apec abandoned a plan to phase out tariffs among 
its members in eight industrial sectors and instead referred the 
talks on to the WTO.
   ``It is not a cop-out... It is a breakthrough,'' Dr Smith said, 
arguing that more benefits would come by opening up trade talks 
among the WTO's 130-plus members than by seeking deals within Apec's 
21 members.
   The ministers pointed out that 14 of Apec's 21 economies had 
presented plans this week to unilaterally knock down their own trade 
barriers in some sectors of the economy, as part of a move to 
achieve fully free trade in the region.
   China's vice minister for trade, He Long Yongtu, said Apec -- as 
a body that operates on consensus -- could not deal with the ``nitty 
gritty'' of detailed trade negotiations.
   Yesterday's decision was made during a retreat at the exclusive 
Gulf Harbour country club, north of Auckland, where ministers spent 
two hours meeting before climbing in to a fleet of golf carts to 
inspect a reputedly infamous hole on the club's World Cup golf 
course.
   Earlier in the day, more than 40 police had pushed and jostled a 
smaller number of anti-Apec protesters about 50 metres along 
Auckland's waterfront away from the jetty area where the ministers 
were to board the luxury boat which was taking them to Gulf Harbour.
   Mr Fischer said he wanted to talk to the protesters but was not 
allowed to.
   He would have told them there was ``no doubt that the Asian 
meltdown would have been a whole lot worse'' if not for the contact 
and financial support Asia Pacific countries provided for each other 
because of Apec.
   One of the themes of this year's Apec is broadening support for 
the free trade process.
   NZPA PAR bs rap
   


30/06/99 08-00NZ