CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY EMBARGOED UNTIL DELIVERY
SPEECH BY THE PRIME MINISTER
OPENING OF THE AUSTRALIA-KOREA FORUM
CANBERRA 20 NOVEMBER 1989
When President Roh and I discussed, twelve months ago,
the establishment of an Australia-Korea Forum, we hardly
dared hope that this inaugural meeting would take place
in such positive and favourable circumstances.
But globally, regionally and bilaterally, developments
over the last year have served to demonstrate that a
Forum of this nature is not only desirable in theory but
very timely and, indeed, necessary in practice.
Globally, the extraordinary developments in Eastern
Europe, the implementation of reforms within the Soviet
Union, and the continuing emergence of a relationship
built on trust between the superpowers, all give grounds
for hope that we are living within a more secure
international framework.
Regionally, the successful conclusion of the first Asia
Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting, held here in
Canberra two weeks ago, revealed a new determination on
the part of regional economies to work together to
achieve our shared goal of prosperity.
And bilaterally, Australia and Korea have continued to
build a very valuable trading relationship, within the
context of increasingly close ties both at the Government
level and at the level of individual contact by tourists,
students and business leaders.
All these developments make even more valid the reasoning
behind this meeting there is a need for a Forum in
which Australians and Koreans can frankly and
constructively exchange views about our rapidly changing
global and regional environment and identify new areas of
cooperation between us.
President Roh and I discussed the establishment of this
Forum both on his very welcome visit to Australia in
November last year and in my visit to Seoul last January.
We are both agreed on the need to encourage creative
thinking and informed debate about our bilateral
relationship, as part of a genuine broadening of that
relationship. It is your task today and tomorrow to undertake that
process S And I am pleased to see your agenda covers such
vital and diverse topics as education and training,
the environment, and cultural links.
I am confident that your diverse areas of expertise, and
the leadership provided by your joint Chairpersons Dr
Brian Scott and Dr Park Pil-soo, will lead to a fruitful
outcome to these discussions.
I want today to make a few introductory comments about
the Australia-Korea relationship to set the scene for
your meeting.
At the outset I want to put on record my personal sense
of gratitude to and respect for the constructive role the
Government of the Republic of Korea, and not least,
President Roh himself, have played both in the
establishment of this Forum and in the APEC meeting
earlier this month.
As you know, the APEC meeting emerged from a proposal I
made in January, while visiting Seoul, for regional
economies to consider again the benefits to be gained
from close economic cooperation.
I launched that proposal publicly the day after I had
discussed it privately with President Roh and the
strong support I received from the President strengthened
my conviction that the time for closer regional
cooperation had indeed come.
Subsequently, in the consultations leading up to the
ministerial meeting, and at the meeting itself here on 6
and 7 November, Korean representatives made important
contributions to the success of the venture.
I am particularly grateful for Korea's invitation to host
the third APEC meeting.
What our cooperation on the establishment of APEC
indicates, of course, is the strong common interests
Australia and Korea share in boosting regional trade and
investment within an open multilateral trading system
and our capacity to work together to achieve those goals.
On all the areas on which APEC reached broad agreement
regional economic analysis, trade liberalisation,
technology transfer and human resources development, and
sectoral cooperation Australia and Korea have much to
contribute and much to gain. Your discussion at this
Forum could usefully consider the complementarity of our
interests in these developments and the processes by
which they can be advanced.
I was particularly pleased that APEC took a united and
clear stand on the need for a liberalisation of world
trading rules.
We must work to ensure a truly open and
non-discriminatory trading and investment system a
system which is free of disruptions to trade and market
signals, and which does not impose unnecessary costs on
consumers and efficient producers.
Ministers at the first APEC Conference were unanimous in
their commitment to achieving a free market system
through the Uruguay Round of the GATT.
I believe their determination combined with the recent
and very welcome proposal by the United States makes it
more likely that the Uruguay Round will reach a
successful conclusion.
We certainly must continue to work to see that it does.
Ladies and gentlemen
Our two countries have traditionally enjoyed an excellent
relationship but it was one that was narrowly based,
founded on the shared experience of the Korean War and
devoted initially to a relatively small trade, weighted
in Australia's favour.
More recently our common interests and concerns have
become both more evident and more diverse.
As I said a fortnight ago when opening the APEC
Conference, the Australia-Korea trading relationship has
grown spectacularly. The political framework for our
relationship has been strengthened, and the exchange ofpeople
and information has increased.
In 1960-61 total trade was worth $ 3.5 million. In 1988-
89 total trade was approximately $ 3.5 billion, a 1000
fold increase or a 28 per cent compound annual growth
rate. That growth shows no signs of slackening.
In this respect, of course, our trading relationship is
not qualitatively different from that of many in the
region. The growth of intra-regional trade has been one
of the reasons for the emerging sophistication and
dynamism of the region as a whole.
It is a tribute to the determination and creativity of
many individuals that our economic relationship is so
strong. And much has been done by Government to deepen and
broaden those links.
Last September my Government released a Trade and
Commercial Development Program for Korea. Last November
we signed a memorandum of understanding on Science and
Technology. In civil aviation, Qantas and KAL have now finalised
their negotiations for an Air Services Agreement. After
Government to Government negotiations, air services are
expected to commence next year. A Protocol to the 1975
Trade Agreement is at the early stages of development.
Two-way investment of about $ 114 million at the end of
the 1987-88 financial year is smaller than could be
expected given the value of our trade. However, Korea is
a priority country in the Australian Government's
Investment Promotion Strategy and a Korean investment
mission visited Australia in September.
Significant opportunities exist for joint ventures both
within our own or third countries for Korean and
Australia business seeking to diversify their trading
relationships. Of course the Australia-Korea relationship does not rely
solely on mutual economic interests. The political,
social and cultural dimensions of the relationship are
becoming increasingly important.
In addition to the establishment of this Forum, recent
months have seen two missions on industrial relations; a
visit to Australia by members of the Korean Presidential
Commission for Economic Restructuring; and a meeting of
the Joint Cultural Commission, seeking to promote better
cultural ties and exchanges between our two countries.
All of these are welcome and valuable initiatives and I
do not wish, by singling out one, to derogate from any of
the others.
But I do want to make special mention of the industrial
relations missions not only because they illustrate the
diversity of ways in which we can cooperate but also
because, from an Australian point of view, they
demonstrate the dramatically changing regard with which
we are held in the region.
It is my proud claim that under this Government, and in
particular due to our Accord with the trade union
movement, the level of industrial disputation in this
country has declined by nearly 60 per cent.
The Accord has provided a vehicle for improvements in
Australia's international competitiveness and
productivity as well as our domestic goals of increased
prosperity and equity through massive Job growth and
enlargements in the social wage.
It was to preserve such a manifestly valuable system that
the Government had to take such a strong stand against
the Australian Federation of Air Pilots whose pursuit of
narrow self-interests Jeopardised the entire framework of
the Accord.
The broad success of Australia's industrial relations
system, and the immense contribution made to Australia's
economic turnaround by the trade union movement, suggests
our experience may be of interest to our regional
neighbours. And indeed during my discussions with President Roh
earlier this year, it was agreed that Australia would
send to Korea a delegation of union, industry and
Government representatives to explain the development of
Australia's industrial relations strategy since 1983.
The delegation visited Korea in May, held lengthy
discussions with the Korean Minister for Labour and
representatives of Korean trade unions and management,
and also met with President Roh.
President Roh has since written to me commending the
Australian delegation for its professionalism and for the
timely assistance it has rendered to the Government,
employers and trade unions in Korea.
So useful was this initial interchange, that a return
delegation recently visited Australia. I understand that
the visit was again very constructive and successful,
providing the delegation with a more detailed insight in
the workings of the Australian industrial relations
system. So we have a very useful and positive example of the
diversity of ways in which Australia and Korea can learn
from and help each other.
Of course, people-to-people links underpin all these
aspects of our relationship.
In 1988, the year of the Seoul Olympics and the
Australian Bicentenary, nearly 7,500 Australians visited
Korea. More than 9,000 Koreans visited Australia.
The Korean community in Australia number some 12,000
people and there are currently more than 2,200 Korean
students studying in Australia.
I take this opportunity to repeat that these Korean
people, whether in Australia for tourism, study, business
or as migrants making a permanent home in this country,
are very welcome among us.
I can state with absolute certainty that Australians are
coming to a better understanding of the importance to us
of Korea and its economically dynamic neighbours in
Northeast Asia. On Wednesday I will be launching a
report, that I commissioned from Professor Ross Garnaut,
that is both a demonstration of this closer understanding
and a very significant spur to it.
Without discussing it in close detail now, I can say that
the report makes very clear the benefits to Australia of
enmieshment with Northeast Asia.
Recent decisions by this Goverment have begun the process
of policy adjustment to maximise the benefits from that
enmeshment. The impact of the report reaches into virtually every
aspect of Australian life and it will be compulsory
reading for a Forum such as this.
Ladies and gentlemen
The relationship between our two countries is in very
good shape.
And we are well placed to develop the as-yet unfulfilled
potential for further growth and cooperation between us.
My Government is committed to doing all it can to develop
further the strong links between our countries, and I
look forward to hearing the results of this
Australia-Korea Forum.
In opening this Conference I extend to our Korean guests
a warm welcome to Australia and to our national capital
Canberra, and I wish you all well in your discussions at
this important Forum.