Transcript
13 November, 2009
Interview with CNBC Television from the APEC meeting in Singapore
Main Topics: Doha, Protectionism, APEC, Regional architecture
SIMON CREAN: I think they've got to get more active at the political level. I don't think that we can continue to just leave it to the technical negotiations.
Now, of course, there are aspects of the conclusion that is all about technicalities, and that's the last thing you'd want ministers or leaders, for that matter, getting involved in. But the political will - if I look at the last four to five months, including when APEC had its ministerial meeting in July, it's the political momentum, the political injection, the political will that has created the momentum over the last few months. Now we're not there yet, there's still a way to go, but if we can keep that political momentum I'm confident still that we can conclude the round by next year.
QUESTION: And who should be driving that process?
SIMON CREAN: All of us. And I think that what we've got is a very strong complementarity and reinforcement of that drive and that's the G20 leaders' call for it. Why are they calling for it? Because they understand that trade is an economic stimulus. They're also concerned about the spread of protectionism. So getting strength within the rules based system is the most effective insurance against the spread of protectionism.
So there are interesting dynamics here at play and the good thing about the G20 leaders' meeting is their preparedness to get involved, if needed, to try and resolve outstanding issues.
The task for us is to narrow the issues.
QUESTION: Are you concerned that trade protectionism which has arisen because of economies of late with some of the trade spats could derail APEC’s ultimate goal of trade liberalisation?
SIMON CREAN: It's not questioned within the member countries even though member countries can be said to have reverted to protectionist tendencies. But I'll tell you what, what has happened over the last 12 months was nowhere near what was anticipated could have happened. There are disciplines...whether it's the rules-based system itself, where it's the lesson of the last Great Depression that this is not the way to go, there is a genuine desire to avoid this easy populist approach.
QUESTION: There seems to be increasing dialogue about the creation of several trade blocs around the globe including recently ASEAN Plus Three, the East Asia community and the Asia Pacific community; how does Australia fit in to all of these and how likely are any of these to materialise?
SIMON CREAN: I think what has emerged with the G20 architecture, is an important realisation coming out of the global financial crisis that the old format, the Euro-centric format, is no longer appropriate, because there has been a fundamental shift in economic power, within the globe. We have seen new architecture emerging, particularly in East Asia, it's therefore been in Australia's interests to stay within that structure, that's why we've argued for ASEAN Plus Six, and pleasingly, out of the East Asia Summit, the leaders' meeting recently, support for ASEAN Plus Six, has been approved.
QUESTION: You recently mentioned that the strong Australian dollar helped the economy cope with the global economic slowdown better than some of the peer nations, and you said that it bolstered the overall economy. How so?
SIMON CREAN: It's also interesting, despite the fact that the dollar has gone up pretty strongly, we're still growing our exports. Now, why is that? It's because our exporters have understood the vicissitudes of dealing with a floating dollar now for close on 25 years. They take different strategies to deal with it.
The other reason the dollar's been so high over - particularly over the last 12 months is because of the commodities price. But that impacts significantly on national income. So you've got strength in employment, strength in national income, you still haven't got inflation outside of the band that the Reserve Bank has set. And so we are managing, not just the global financial crisis, but the sustainability of our economy going forward.
The next big step for Australia is to ensure that it lifts its productivity.
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