Import News: Bancorp, Bangladesh, PM's Speech

Import News: Bancorp, Bangladesh, PM's Speech And Feedback

Import News from the Importers Institute 21 November 2000 - Bancorp, Bangladesh, PM's Speech and Feedback

BANCORP

The PowerPoint presentation of the Bancorp Seminar "Surviving the NZ Dollar at 30 cents" is now on the web: http://www.silva.co.nz/bancorp

BANGLADESH

From 1 July next, all clothing from Bangladesh will be duty free. Bangladesh is not an easy place for doing business. You will want to make sure that your suppliers are reputable and that the documentation is in order, as Customs are bound to check all shipments carefully to ensure that they originate in Bangladesh and not in India, Pakistan or other countries subject to a 19% tariff.

Micaela Vessey, Forwarding Manager of Daniel Silva Ltd, works closely with forwarding agents in Dhaka and Chittagong. She can advise you on documentation, help you to locate suppliers and organise your air and seafreight movements. Contact Micaela at (09) 302 9576, email micaela@silva.co.nz, personal page http://www.silva.co.nz/team/micaela.htm

PM's SPEECH

Extract from the Prime Minister's speech to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce/ASEAN today: "Frankly, I have been astonished by some of the ill informed reaction to [the decision to provide unrestricted access to our markets for the 48 designated Least Developed Countries]. Only 0.07 per cent of New Zealand's imports come from these countries. Yet I have heard absurd claims that open access for them will lead to the loss of many thousands of New Zealand jobs. All I can say is that if New Zealand wants to compete with the products of Chad, Djibouti, Somalia, and Bangladesh, then we deserve fourth world, not first world, status."

FEEDBACK

We received these emails in response to our article "The Limits to Green Compassion." Comments from readers are always welcome.

Sir - Considering that some of your past members have been convicted on multiple counts of customs fraud, mainly relating to clothing, it is rich for you to lambast those who are concerned by the potential for fraud involving the new duty free access agreement announced by Helen Clark. The types of fraud often investigated by customs include: false labelling, copyright infringement, false declaration of value (for duty and GST) and false country of origin. The likelihood of Indonesian product coming into New Zealand as "Made in Singapore" is reasonably high, given the lengths some importers have gone to in the past to avoid paying duty. Could the same happen with Indian products through Bangladesh? Possibly. A recent ruse by fraudsters to avoid having counterfeit product seized at the port of entry is to import labels and garments separately, and have them sewn in in New Zealand. This might seem an absurdly complicated method of making a dollar, yet the practice is happening and seizures have been made by Customs. My own understanding of human nature says that if there is a dollar to be made, or a tax bill to evade then people will do it. The humble clothing factory owner employing a dozen people in any town in New Zealand, is the person who will feel the impact of trade decisions such as those made by this Government. To say we were "shocked" by the Clark announcement is correct. We were very surprised that this Government has apparently abandoned their own stated policies in announcing this decision.

Paul Blomfield CEO, Apparel & Textile Federation of New Zealand Auckland paul@apparel.co.nz

* * *

Sir - What a breath of fresh air it is to read your column. Can you get the Deputy Prime Minister in your sights? He surely deserves an Oscar for his outstanding acting as a missionary for international trade, now he has the keys to the grand house in Woburn and all of the trimmings of office. I am sure he must pinch himself each morning hardly believing his luck. Maybe Time magazine all those years ago was right. What a politician.

Ray Harding Wellington rayhar@xtra.co.nz

* * * Previous Import News items are published on our Internet site http://www.importers.org.nz. If you do not wish to be included in this mailing list, please reply to this message with the word REMOVE in the subject line. If you would like us to send Import News to friends or associates, please ask them to email info@importers.org.nz with the word SUBSCRIBE in the subject line.

© Scoop Media