arena P O Box 2450, Christchurch
MEDIA RELEASE
25th April 2005
THE REGIONAL FREE TRADE JUGGERNAUT - A POISONED CHALICE
Last week saw both the signing of a Free Trade Agreement between New Zealand and Thailand and another round of
negotiations with Chile and Singapore on a Closer Economic Partnership, (P-3) probably now 'successfully' concluded.
"Yet few New Zealanders know about these agreements and their negative implications for many of the worst off citizens
in all the countries involved", says the Action Research and Education Network of Aotearoa (ARENA)
Even Parliament is scarcely involved in these treaties that can affect all our lives, let alone the public at large.
The total sham of submissions on the agreements was graphically shown in the Thai case by the government signing the
deal before the Select Committee even had a chance to report back.
In the first three years of the Singapore New Zealand FTA, now being extended to Chile, New Zealand's exports declined
by 37% (NZ$180 million) and the trade deficit with Singapore grew from $24 million to $323 million. So who benefits?
Certainly not many New Zealanders. The Thailand agreementwill be no different. ARENA maintains that the real
beneficiaries are foreign investors in land, forestry, mines, rivers, utilities, services, and intellectual property,
even where they engage in grossly exploitive practises. They get enforceable rights that take precedence over the rights
and needs of local peoples and communities.
The sham of consultations is reinforced in the P-3 with a refusal to release drafts until negotiations are completed.
The fifth round of P-3 talks took place in Singapore last week and there is probably now an agreed text. When released
it will be virtually a fait accompli - all political parties except the Greens support the free trade agenda so Select
Committee discussion is merely cosmetic. Dissenting organizations have insufficient time to prepare fully researched
opposing submissions - and they know they are wasting their time with the result predetermined.
At a mini-conference on Chile and New Zealand - Between competition and co-operation? on April 22, Chilean Ambassador
Juan Salazar extolled the virtues of a strategic partnership to be provided by the P-3. But desirable technical,
scientific, educational, and cultural exchanges can happen without the rest of the agenda. Important among such contacts
are those between indigenous Mapuche and Maori many of whom are among those most opposed to the free trade juggernaut,
with their lands, resources and intellectual property exploited and stolen by big business. In the P-3, services and
investment clauses are the major concern, involving commitments pre-empting policy options for future governments. "The
unprecedented 'negative list' means that all services except those explicitly listed would be covered by free trade
rules and locked open for control by foreign transnationals. A negative list heightens the risk that future governments
will be unable to guarantee the delivery of accessible, affordable and appropriate services essential to the lives of
communities. "And we don't even know what is on that negative list", says Prue Hyman, for ARENA.
Chile/New Zealand are small players in each others' markets but the precedent of a negative list must be resisted. The
P-3 will also entrench the open season for foreign investors proposed under the controversial Overseas Investment Bill
now at Select Committee. "So we must resist any feelings of apathy that the lack of real democracy can engender", says
ARENA. "We must look out for the details of the P-3, make our Select Committee submissions and protest publicly. We must
show Government that there IS significant opposition.
ENDS