[asia-apec 913] More NZ Govt APEC hype

[Gatt Watchdog]

If anyone knows which Spice Girl NZ Foreign Affairs Minister Don
McKinnon really really wants to be, please let us know!



  APEC - Adding Spice to New Zealand's Future

  By Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade
  the Rt Hon Don McKinnon

  Although it will probably be the largest single event New
  Zealand has ever hosted, few Kiwis know what APEC is, let alone
  the face that it is this country's turn to host it in 1999.

  Many New Zealanders may think Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation
  has less relevance to them than the Spice Girls. And,
  unfortunately, many New Zealanders are probably far more
  interested in knowing why Ginger Spice has left the group than
  how APEC can make a real difference to their lives.

  APEC is an unusual beast in that it is more a process than an
  organisation. In short, it is the primary regional process for
  promoting open trade and economic cooperation. It is a
  consultative process which involves all Asia-Pacific's major
  economies and, therefore, some of the most influential leaders
  in the world.

  It was started in Canberra in 1989 as an informal dialogue
  group responding to the growing interdependence of Asia-Pacific
  economies. In 1993, in Seattle, it began to gain status when
  all the member economies' leaders gathered and they decided
  that APEC would be about "stability, security and prosperity
  for our peoples".

  The following year, in Bogor, Indonesia, the leaders agreed to
  the ambitious target of free and open trade and investment in
  the region by 2010 for developed economies and 2020 for
  developing economies.

  At subsequent meetings, action plans were developed to progress
  that goal.

  APEC is open and voluntary with everything done by peer
  pressure rather than treaties and laws. Also, unlike many other
  international organisations, APEC has direct private sector
  involvement.

  It deals with tariff/non-tariff measures, customs, standards
  and conformance, competition and deregulation. It covers many
  areas, including small and medium-sized enterprises,
  telecommunications, sustainable development, women, human
  resources development, fisheries and forestry.

  APEC helps open markets and believes in positive intervention
  in the marketplace by helping to build them.

  In New Zealand's year - 1999 - there will be 21 member
  economies including, for the first time, Russia, Peru and Viet
  Nam. Such is the importance of APEC that it is the only
  international forum where the three Chinas - the Peoples'
  Republic, Hong Kong and Chinese Taipei - sit around the same
  table.

  To put APEC in perspective, it is important to note that it
  accounts for 42 percent of the world's population, 57 percent
  of the world's economy and 46 percent of the world's
  merchandise trade.

  From New Zealand's point of view, it should be noted that 70
  percent of our two-way trade, 70 percent of our 1.5 million
  tourists and 80 percent of our investment is from APEC
  economies.

  It is easy to see, then, the benefits that New Zealand can
  derive from further opening up those Asia-Pacific markets.

  APEC conservatively estimates the benefits of the first action
  plans at around half a percent growth in the region's economy.
  In dollar terms, that is equivalent to nearly $US 70 billion -
  or about the same size as the total New Zealand economy.

  The evidence also shows that those who liberalise the most gain
  the most. In this regard, New Zealand is a stand-out performer.
  Our gains are estimated at 1.3 percent of GDP and exports about
  four percent higher each year than they would have otherwise
  been.

  A study by the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource
  Economics shows that under APEC's policy of open regionalism,
  New Zealand stands to add 1.6 percent to its GDP and annual
  export volumes are likely to be about seven percent higher than
  would otherwise be the case.

  But one of the most interesting areas for New Zealand will come
  as a result of an initiative at last November's APEC meeting in
  Vancouver. There, the leaders agreed to liberalise 15 sectors
  of the regional economy (called Early Voluntary Sector
  Liberalisation, or EVSL) in advance of the original 2010/2020
  deadline for free trade and investment in the region.

  APEC Trade Ministers will meet in Malaysia this month to
  hopefully finalise detailed work programmes in nine of those
  areas. Two of them, fisheries and forestry are of particular
  importance to New Zealand.

  Our exports of fish and forest products to the APEC region are
  already worth more than $3 billion a year and the current
  proposals to liberalise trade in these areas would mean tariff
  savings alone to New Zealand of $31.8 million and $36.2 million
  a year respectively.

  The timetable for tariff removal on fish products is by the
  year 2005 and for forestry products, which includes paper, by
  the year 2004.

  Removal of non-tariff measures will also enhance market access
  in places such as Japan.

  Assuming a modest tariff equivalent of 20 percent in the
  Japanese market, the removal of non-tariff measures will
  benefit the fisheries and forestry industries of New Zealand by
  about $74 million a year.

  A conservative estimate of the total value of sectoral
  liberalisation - the removal of tariff and non-tariff measures
  - in fisheries and forestry would be about $130 million a year
  for New Zealand.

  That is $130 million in increased profits, increased numbers of
  jobs and increased reinvestment for New Zealand.

  As good as that is, the impact of APEC doesn't stop at
  liberalisation.

  APEC also encompasses economic and technical cooperation
  measures which are designed to build markets and capacity in a
  sustainable manner so the benefits of liberalisation can be
  maximised without putting more pressure on the environment.

  Another important area of work for APEC is trade facilitation -
  removing or reducing transaction costs through simplifying
  regulatory structures.

  It is about reducing the costly and time-consuming red tape and
  paper work, the practical things, like reducing the number of
  customs forms our exporters have to fill out.

  It has been estimated that the average international trade
  transaction today requires 27 to 30 different parties, 40
  documents, 200 data elements (30 or which are repeated at least
  30 times) and the re-keying of 60 to 70 percent of all data at
  least once. This red tape and paper work accounts for 7 and 10
  percent of the total value of world trade.

  By eliminating unnecessary administrative burdens small and
  medium-sized enterprises - the backbone of the New Zealand
  economy - will get a decent crack at export markets.