Speech
to the Boao Forum
Hainan Island, China, 11 April 2002
New Hope for the Region: Trade and the Asia-Pacific
Introduction
Excellencies, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen.
It's a great pleasure to be meeting with you here at this inaugural
Boao Forum. I commend the organisers for this initiative. It is
yet another sign of the growing interdependence and common interest
amongst nations in the Asia Pacific.
There is clearly a place for a forum where senior government, business
and academic people meet to debate the issues facing the region, and
to develop fresh ideas about regional cooperation. I am sure the
strong backing of the Chinese Government will ensure the success of
the conference.
As Australia's Trade Minister, I'm honoured to be here. It is great
to see that a particularly strong business delegation from Australia
is here as well. Given our economic strength, geographic location,
and complementarities with other economies in the region, Australia
cancontribute much to this Forum.
New hope for the region
We meet at a time full of promise. East Asia looks like it has turned
the corner, and there is hope for renewed trade and broader economic
growth in the region.
The Australian economy is riding well with growth currently over
4 percent. This is the highest growth rate of any of the OECD economies.
The new multilateral trade round launched at Doha last November,
China's membership of the WTO, an ambitious APEC agenda set in Shanghai
last October, and proposals for a variety of regional trade arrangements
are all set to contribute to regional prosperity.
The Doha round and development
The Doha round of multilateral trade negotiations is an opportunity
for all members to advance their trade and economic prospects. This
is especially important for the many developing countries in our region.
Some are calling the Doha round the 'development round', because
it is an opportunity to address the needs and concerns of developing
country members. Developing countries now have a much higher profile
in the WTO. China, in particular, along with all WTO members in
our region, will have an important role in ensuring that the ambitious
deadline of 1 January 2005 is met.
Australia is committed to helping developing countries participate
meaningfully in the Doha Round of negotiations. The Doha declaration
calls for extensive trade-related technical assistance and capacity
building activities to help achieve this objective.
Indeed, Australia was among the WTO members who recently pledged
30 million Swiss Francs to the WTO Global Trust Fund to support these
activities. And we have contributed substantially to assisting WTO
members who do not have permanent offices in Geneva.
Australia has also been working extensively within APEC to deliver
a broad range of trade-related technical assistance to further support
developing country members in the WTO.
China and the region
China's membership of the WTO brings all the major Asia Pacific economies
together within the multilateral trading system. It also makes the
system truly global, because it now includes the world's 6th largest
trading nation.
This is important - playing by the same set of rules will give further
trade liberalisation in our region an extra push. And Asian economies
have demonstrated already that liberalised trade and economic prosperity
go hand in hand.
Australia has been a strong advocate for China's membership of the
WTO. We welcomed China's accession last December, after 14 years
of negotiations. WTO membership is good for China - both as a trading
nation and as an economy undertaking major economic reform. And it
is good for the region.
We look forward to China playing an active role in WTO Councils,
Committees and negotiating groups. China will have a greater voice
in international trade negotiations - and that will increase the weight
and influence of Asia as a whole.
Australia has used its influence where it can to help bring about
this positive outcome for the region. This includes our help to China
in implementing its WTO commitments.
The reforms associated with China's WTO membership are substantial. China will significantly reduce market access barriers by gradually
lowering tariffs and increasing tariff quota volumes in key agricultural
sectors. Export subsidies will be eliminated. Import quotas on a
range of industrial products will be dismantled. China will liberalise
access to its market in the services sector. Limits on the ability
of enterprises in China to trade will be removed.
We see many areas for potential cooperation between China and the
Cairns Group in promoting agriculture liberalisation. The Cairns
Group of which Australia was the founding Chairman is made up primarily
of developing countries disadvantaged by the distortions in world
agricultural markets created by developed countries.
China's interests are entirely consistent with the objective of the
Cairns Group to liberalise agricultural trade and benefit efficient
producers. Cooperation between China and the Cairns Group is therefore
natural, and desirable.
These and other reforms - affecting standards, technical barriers,
conformity assessment procedures, sanitary and phytosanitary regimes,
intellectual property rights, transparency in publishing laws and
regulations, reviews of administrative decisions, and a uniform trade
regime - will help China become an even greater trading nation in
Asia.
The more that China is able to achieve these objectives, the better
it will be for the economic health of the entire region. And the
more important China's contribution to trade and economic growth in
the region will be.
This is one of the key reasons why there is renewed hope for continuing
prosperity in the Asia-Pacific.
APEC
China did a first job hosting the APEC summit in Shanghai last year. Its leadership and organisation helped to deliver a number of positive
outcomes - in particular, a renewed commitment to achieving the Bogor
Goals of free and open trade and investment in the Asia-Pacific by
2010 and 2020.
The Shanghai Accord is an agenda for APEC's second decade. Leaders
at the Summit adopted a 'pathfinder' approach to accelerate the drive
for free and open trade and investment in the region.
They agreed to reduce business transaction costs by 5 per cent by
2006 - following on from a joint Chinese and Australian study which
found that the savings for APEC economies could be in the order of
US$60 billion annually.
The Shanghai meetings delivered many other key outcomes for the region. There was strong support for the new round of WTO trade talks. There
was a commitment to extending the moratorium on customs duties for
electronic transmissions. An APEC strategy for the New Economy will
help APEC economies tap opportunities for economic growth, employment
and higher living standards.
Australia looks forward to maintaining our close relationship with
China as we together implement APEC policies and programs in the coming
years.
Building trade and economic linkages in the region
What we see in China's accession to the WTO, as well as in its leadership
in APEC, is a great nation building its trade and economic linkages
in the region and the world.
Economic growth and interdependence in Asia is reflected in a variety
of proposals for further regional integration. The ASEAN Free Trade
Area, the proposal for China-ASEAN FTA, and Japan's proposal for a
comprehensive regional economic partnership reflect the fact that
nations of the region recognise that free and open trade is the best
guarantee of economic prosperity and growth.
Australia is active and constructive in building regional interaction. We have developed a Closer Economic Partnership framework agreement
between the ASEAN Free Trade Area and the Closer Economic Relations
agreement which links Australia and New Zealand.
We are also building our economic links by negotiating a Free Trade
Agreement with Singapore, and completing a joint scoping study with
Thailand on a possible Free Trade Agreement. We are exploring bilateral
initiatives with Japan and Korea, and, as mentioned, pursuing the
opportunities created by China's accession to the WTO to build up
our important bilateral relationship.
Conclusion
Australia's well being is closely linked to our external trade and
investment. Our impressive economic performance in recent years is
recognised widely. Together with Japan, china and Korea, Australia
is one of the top four economies of this region. It is only natural
that we are significant investors in the region and Over half our
trade is with Asia.
Our future, and that of the region are inextricably linked, and can
only be enhanced by increasing and strengthening these links.
Local Date:
Saturday, 22-Nov-2008 09:31:28 EST
