PARTIAL TRANSCRIPT OF LOCAL NEWS CONFERENCE, CHARTERS
TOWERS JOB TRAINING CENTRE, CHARTERS TOWERS, 16 NOVEMER
1990 E & 0E PROOF ONLY
JOURNALIST: Mr Hawke, if the Uruguay Round indeed starts
to fail, do you suggest that Lee Kuan Yew or a suggestion
the world will fracture trading blocs likely
outcome PM: Lew Kuan Yew Is not the first one by any means to
point it out In my lecture in Singapore myself some
years ago I made precisely this point. That's why we've
got to understand these real dimensions that the
problem is confronting the world. It's not just an
economic challenge. If the Round fails then you will
have a collapse Into economic autarchy, increasing
protectionism and that Is an economic disaster. What
we've got to understand is that it's more of an economic
disaster, it will be a political disaster because if
history shows. you anything it shows you this; that when
countries do degenerate into trading blocs you have in
there the seeds of political conflict. That's why I rang
President Bush and said look we really do have a
responsibility to inject political impetus into these
discussions so that we get a positive outcome. I'm very
pleased to say that the President totally agreed with me.
We're going to keep in contact. He's taking bilateral
Initiatives, I'm taking further initiatives and I'll be
in touch with Chancellor Kohl, Prime Minister Rocard,
uniting all the European leaders, and I'm going to do
everything I possibly can to avoid what I think will be a
disaster. Because If the system breaks down then you
will have Europe, you've got the United States and Canada
and they are conducting discussions and negotiations with
Mexico. Inevitably, I guess, what we would find is that
and this is the worst case scenario situation against
all my philosophies I think if that's what happens we'd
have to be looking at our region to see what sort of
grouping we could become associated with. But this is a
recipe for disaster.
JOURNALIST: But would the all in that position
have to be considered. Some reduction in the tariff
would be hit by..
PM: Your farmers can't have it both ways.
JOURNALIST: inaudible
2
PM: Well if we have a position where the rural community
is saying if we want tariffs against citrus and so on
coming in here, how do you set their argument that they
want an abolition of tariffs in regard to machinery
that's coming in. It's pretty hard to sit side by side
and ride those two horses in the same room at the same
time.
ends