Australia and the Philippines: Creating Opportunities

Speech by the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Trade The Hon Tim Fischer, MP at Breakfast for Philippines and Australian Business Representatives


Manila, 22 April 1996

It is a great pleasure to be addressing this distinguished group this morning, including Dick Smith and Mike Moignard, because business and trade are at the core of the new Australian Government's foreign policy. This morning I want to tell you at first hand about the Government's commitment to Asia and about its commitment to a more vigorous approach to trade policy. And I will give you my impressions of how we can take forward the Australian-Philippines relationship, building on the historic visit by His Excellency President Ramos last Ausgust, and my own first visit in a Ministerial capacity this week.

The Coalition Government's Commitment to Asia

The Coalition Government has stated unequivocally that closer engagement with Asia is its highest foreign policy priority, and I want to reaffirm that now. It is a priority built over more than 50 years of Coalition and Labour Governments, and that means that there is a lasting consensus that our partnership with Asian countries should deepen. It is reflected in the fact that both Minister Downer and myself have made Asia first port of call as we commence overseas activities associated with our portfolios. It is also useful for you to know this is my fourth visit to the Philippines, including a visit I once made as a New South Wales State MP in the 70's. This was all part of building a strategy of total engagement with Asia if I was to be an effective back bencher, middle bencher, and front bencher of the Australian Parliament and involved working visits to nineteen different Asian countries.

The Government's Approach to Trade Policy

There is no more important aspect to that partnership than building prosperity together. And that is where trade policy plays a leading role. The underlying objective of the Government's trade policy is to pursue all opportunities for gains in market access for Australian business, and to promote Australia's growth through trade and investment, with the goal of raising the living standards of all Australians. We are pursuing that objective through five different policy "tracks", which are mutually supportive. The domestic track - boosting competitiveness and productivity - is the foundation for all the rest. President Ramos spelled that out clearly in his remarks on the Philippines economy last August. For our part, there is a lot more that we need to do to make Australia one of the truly dynamic Asia Pacific economies. The Government has started by moving quickly to get macroeconomic policy back on a responsible course. We aim to get the Budget back to underlying balance by 1997-98, cutting A$4 billion off the deficit in each of the next two years.

We will revitalise and deepen microeconomic reform, which is the key to improving industry's competitiveness. The goal is to raise incomes, lower prices and improve levels of service. Our priority areas include labour market reform, the waterfront, communications, transport and energy. Industry, including state enterprises like Telstra, needs the stimulus of competition and it needs to be relieved of unnecessary regulatory burdens and costs. In all this, we will be working closely with State Governments and business.

The multilateral track works on global market access issues, focussing on the World Trade Organisation and making sure that the rules of world trade meet our interests and are honoured. So Australia will be working energetically to ensure that the gains of the Uruguay Round are consolidated and the new dispute resolution mechanism works properly. At the inaugural WTO Ministerial meeting in Singapore in December we will be working to consolidate and build on the Uruguay Round. We are looking for a broad agenda that is relevant to practical market access. And it will be time to start thinking seriously and preparing for the next global round of negotiations.

APEC offers the opportunity to move ahead with economic cooperation and trade liberalisation through the regional track, and it includes nine of our top ten trading partners.
At the Subic Bay APEC Leaders Meeting this November, the Government will be working with our regional partners to put flesh on the bones of the Bogor Declaration and the Osaka Action Agenda, based on substantive individual action plans from all APEC members.

Subic Bay will also be an opportunity for APEC to act as a spur for liberalisation in the WTO, and in particular for the Ministerial Meeting in Singapore the following month. Over time, it would be useful to establish an "APEC Group" in the WTO. As our host in November, the Philippines has a challenging task, and I appreciate the effort and work it is undertaking towards this end - we will be working closely with them. The business sector is vital to the success of APEC. We will be doing more to get Australian business advice on APEC issues.We are setting up an APEC Business Advisory Group to do this, and our recent appointment of an APEC Ambassador, Peter Grey, will strenthen the focus of government effort. We are consulting widely with business on the development of Australia's individual action plan, as well as on the assessment of other countries' plans. And we will give priority to the areas that matter most to Australian business on the APEC agenda - for instance, the liberalisation of minerals, agriculture and services trade, the reduction in high tariffs on industrial products, and progress on harmonisation or mutual recognition of standards in goods and services.

The new Government's commitment to working more closely with business lies behind our strong emphasis on the bilateral track. The Government will be targetting areas where we can obtain commercial benefits more quickly than we can get them through multilateral or regional forums. Our objective will be to achieve better market access and higher market share for key exports in the most dynamic markets. Asia will therefore be our first priority - but not our exclusive focus.
And we will use visits such as this to promote commercial prospects of Australian business. In practical terms, this means Australia - that is, the State and Federal governments in partnership with business - need to work much more closely together in identifying opportunities, and in active, coordinated pursuit of these opportunities.

The fifth and final track is to build on market access work by promoting Australian exports and investment. The Government will be looking at sharpening the strategic focus of both my Department and Austrade. Austrade has the main responsibility for promotion work, and we will be working to increase its responsiveness to the export and business communities. At the same time, we recognise that we need vigorous and innovative business councils to assist Austrade in its work. National and local Chambers of Commerce, and ethnic business associations need to be brought more into play. As in the case of market access, this is an area where the most innovative ideas may come from business. So I would welcome your views.

I want to make it clear that I welcome views from the Filipinos, as well as the Australians here. Because trade is a matter for both sides and it takes two to do a deal. Just as it takes both sides of a bilateral relationship to make things work well at the national level.

Australia and the Philippines

I am happy to say that things are working very well indeed in the relationship between Australia and the Philippines. President Ramos' visit lifted the relationship to a new level, and I recall with pleasure my own meeting with him. Since then, Australia and the Philippines have begun to recognise better each other's true potential as partners - in trade, and across the full range of national interests. That potential is based on the wide range of things we have in common.

These include

our geographic location (Darwin is only two and a half hours from Manila) - and it was a brilliant finale to the Ramos visit that he came through Darwin

relatively well-educated, English-speaking populations

democratic political systems, which value not only the free enterprise system, but also freedom of the individual

and a common outlook on key regional, economic and security issues

Which means we can work together to create a strong voice in shaping the future of the region we share. We have long valued our common history - for instance the crucial role played by the Philippines in the Pacific War. And I would add that, as a former soldier, I deeply appreciate your Government's distribution of Philippines Liberation Medals to Australians who fought in the Philippines theatre.

But it is really only since the inauguration of the Ramos administration that our two governments and business communities have begun to bring ourselves fully up-to-date on what we can offer each other for the future. And it is still true to say that the lack of a clear understanding and knowledge of each other is slowing the development of the relationship to its full potential.

On Australia's side, the selection of the Philippines as a market focus country for the National Trade and Investment Outlook Conferences in 1994 and 1995 was a major step forward. It represented a recognition that the Philippines was indeed "back in business in the heart of Asia" under the Ramos Administration.

And we do not intend to stop there. We will be inviting a high-powered delegation to come to this year's NTIOC, and to look around the country afterwards. But it is business which does business. Government events like NTIOC are no more than catalysts. So I urge you all, as leading representatives of your business sectors, to get more of your private-sector colleagues active in exploring opportunities for themselves.

Those opportunities are immense. The economic transformation taking place in both countries is opening up new commercial opportunities in both countries.The proof of that is that President Ramos witnessed the signing of over twenty contracts in Australia last August.

And bilateral trade grew more than 25 per cent last year to over A$1 billion. Economic liberalisation is attracting a growing Australian presence here, including investment worth about A$160 million.

Australia has a lot to offer in an extremely diverse range of industry sectors.

agribusiness , telecommunications, power/energy infrastructure, mining, construction, and services.

telecommunications

power/energy infrastructure

mining

construction

and services.

What is especially important for the future is the increasing role of sophisticated technology and services, and the ANZ has recently opened the first full branch of an Australian bank in the Philippines. We welcome the trade liberalisation that helped the ANZ success. We hope that further liberalisation will get results for Australian services like insurance, accounting, legal, health and education.

Of course, the Australia-Philippines relationship is about more than trade.

We have strong links across the full range of international issues. To take a few examples:

The Australian Philippine community now numbers about 120,000

More Philippines soldiers train in Australia than in any other country, even the United States

The Philippines is a major recipient of Australian aid, through which we actively support the new era of stability and economic growth

And our two governments cooperate intensively on economic and security issues in forums like APEC and the ASEAN Regional Forum.

Conclusion

Last August, President Ramos said, "I find no reason - given our economic, political and cultural complementarities - why the Philippines and Australia should not enjoy a more substantial and mutually beneficial relationship which will endure far into the future".

We in the new Australian government endorse that goal one hundred per cent and I am here this week to find practical ways to get there.

I look to each country's business leaders - and to you - to join and to add your energy to that common mission.