NZ: Another step in strengthening relations with US
Updated
New Zealand appears to have taken another step towards strengthening relations with the US following top-level talks this week in Auckland. The Partnership Forum as it is known - brought together key political, diplomatic and business representatives from both countries
Presenter: Peter Lewis
Speakers: Jane Kelsey, Law professor, Auckland University; Helen Clark, New Zealand Prime Minister; Christoper Hill, US Assistant Secretary of State for Asia and the Pacific
LEWIS: The small demonstration outside a five-star hotel on the Auckland waterfront wasn't quite on the same scale of the APEC protests in Sydney ....yet like that gathering ...the US-NZ Partnership Forum wasn't open to the public either.
LEWIS: But the media was invited to hear the opening remarks before delegates packed down for two-days of mostly trade-related talks.
New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark said although the two countries have a considerable amount in common .... it was the differences over things like nuclear policy ...and the war in Iraq had tended the define the relationship in recent times.
CLARK: Over the past 18 months or so, both our governments have been taking stock of the relationship between our countries and looking opportunities where we might work more closely together we're our interests coincide.
LEWIS: The first of these Partnership Forums was staged last year in Washington ...a precursor to Helen Clark's own visit earlier this year to the White House ....which marked a thawing in relations ....chilled by the nuclear free policy since the 1980's.
CLARK: In March, when I met with President Bush again in Washington DC, we agreed that it was in both countries interests to have a forward looking relationship and to focus on working together on the many issues where our interests coincide.
LEWIS: While the differences she referred to clearly remain a sticking point with some on either side of the Pacific .... Auckland University Law Professor Jane Kelsey ...among the protesters out the front ....suggested there's an even more fundamental barrier to a US-NZ free trade deal.
KELSEY: The US president can't negotiate free trade agreements without what's called fast track authority. That's expired, it's not likely to be renewed for a number of years. We are so far down the list, that it's time people stop fantasising about a free trade deal, as bad as it would be some of us believe, and started addressing some of the issues close to home that we need to deal with and with much greater urgency.
LEWIS: She claims that Australians are now reflecting on all the implications of the deals done with the United States to achieve favoured trading status - and that's something most New Zealanders just aren't prepared to accept.
KELSEY: Well, the US has made it very clear that it won't enter into free trade negotiations unless its consistent with its foreign policy and security interests. So the agreements effectively are treaties of economic surrender and foreign policy surrender. New Zealand doesn't need that. We would end up I fear a bit like Australia did last week, that the domestic politics that are so aligned to Bush and his foreign policy would dominate the choices that ordinary New Zealanders would be able to make about what kind of country we want to live in and what kind of foreign policy we want to engage with.
LEWIS: But engagement is precisely what Washington has in mind according to Assistant Secretary of State for Asia and the Pacific Christopher Hill.
HILL: So in fact the last 18 months I think have been a gratifying improvement inn dialogue and cooperation between the US and New Zealand on a range of security economic and foreign policy objectives and the stage is now set to expand our engagement further and to solidify our cooperation on a really wide range of issues.
LEWIS: Fresh from brokering talks to dismantle North Korea's nuclear program ....he even suggested New Zealand could play its part ...as a kind of honest "anti-nuclear " broker.
HILL: One of the problems in North Korea is they have turned the possession of nuclear programs into a kind of identity issue and I think New Zealand has taken another path and so perhaps New Zealand will be a very good partner in convincing the North Koreans to take the New Zealand path.
LEWIS: Wellington sounds like it may well take up that invitation as a bargaining chip towards a free trade deal.
CLARK: Well, I think it's about building on the many things we do together, identifying new opportunities, particularly in the commercial areas. But that happens against the broad background of the relationship. You can never deal with trade in isolation from broader people-to-people contacts, cultural contacts, the many things that underpin a relationship.
LEWIS: Ambassador Hill hinted that while not imminent ....an FTA was inevitable.
HILL: And I think as we go further, we're going to be able to make more progress and to keep our eye on what we would all like to see eventually, which is to achieve at some point a free trade agreement.
LEWIS: Professor Jane Kelsey says that commitment was deliberately vague ...and for her and others opposed to an FTA that's just fine.
KELSEY: The US doesn't view New Zealand as having any foreign policy relevance or any economic relevance, so it's not surprising that we will continue to remain down the bottom of the list and for some of us, we'd be very happy to remain there.
