Simple message to leaders: get on with it

By Mark Reynolds

Senior New Zealand executives have a simple message for politicians and foreign businesspeople who are here this week to discuss the Asia-Pacific region's economic future: "Get on with it."

Apec's 21 member-economies need to get on with trade and investment liberalisation, get on with internal economic reform and get on with creating the social framework for a truly competitive regional marketplace, local businesspeople say.

If that reform process is continued, the region can raise the living standards for all its people.

New Zealand senior executives intend to deliver this message firmly - but diplomatically - to their overseas counterparts when the Apec summit gets under way.

The summit is a rare opportunity for business leaders in the region to bend the ear of both the politicians and the regional company leaders they do most of their business with.

The president of the New Zealand Chambers of Commerce, David Truscott, said: "This is one of the few forums where the business community can relate with Apec representatives and have a direct opportunity to talk to the leaders.

"It is not filtered through some great political system before the views are put."

That meant business leaders here would be able to share frank views with regional lawmakers.

Mr Truscott suggested that executives throughout the region "aren't necessarily getting the support of political leaders to the extent that they would wish" and there would be some debate about the commitment to the reform process.

He said that even in New Zealand, where the economy arguably had been deregulated more than any other Apec country, there were rules and regulations that impeded competition.

An example was taxation laws, which local businesses would like to be less onerous.

"So really the CEO summit is a case of saying to the politicians of the region, 'If you want to help out your nation then these are the things that you could be doing for business to help out its prosperity'," Mr Truscott said.

The chief executive of the Ports of Auckland, Geoff Vazey, said there was a clear reason business leaders needed to have their voices heard this week.

"The fact is that no economy has had a sustainable improvement in living standards other than with a growing economic environment.

"If you want the social benefits then you need the business agenda.

"Some people might not like that link but it is undeniable."

Mr Vazey said the objective of the business community this weekend would be to reinforce that link.

"Business in the region probably hasn't done enough to get a realisation that if you went around and looked at the wish-lists of every voter, then every single person essentially wants an improvement in living standards," he said.

"For some that might mean a new car, more healthcare or just more money - but you simply cannot have that improvement in living standards without the commerce side of things ticking along."

And to get the commercial wheels turning, business leaders here believe it is necessary to have the sort of level economic playing field model that only New Zealand has come close to achieving.

The chief executive of tourism operator Whale Watch Kaikoura, Wally Stone, said New Zealand executives had to continue to lead the field.

"My personal belief is that of all the Apec countries, probably New Zealand is the most open of them and it would be wonderful to think we could be a really good model in terms of testing the theory of free trade."

Specific ideas for further reform that New Zealand business leaders will put forward at the summit are numerous.

Eric Barratt, for example, is group managing director of fishing company Sanford, and would like to see the elimination of tariff barriers for fish imports into Apec countries.

Similarly, Heinz Wattie Australasia managing director and chief executive Neville Fielke will lobby for the elimination of regional food tariff trade barriers.

But the common call of New Zealand business leaders will be for a continuation of the trade liberalisation and internal financial reform that has occurred throughout the region over recent years.

"New Zealand's views are probably a little purer than some, with no tariffs and a market-driven mentality," said Ports of Auckland's Mr Vazey.

"But some of the Apec countries have got huge gaps between the haves and the have-nots and if these are to be broken down then business is the environment for the realisation of that," he said.

"By bringing the have-nots into the world of consumption we can dramatically change the dynamics of regional economies, because growth will be driven by consumption."

New Zealand executives do not expect their message to be easy to sell this week - either to foreign visitors or indeed to many locals who have endured the pain of economic reform over the past 10 to 15 years.

"It could take many years yet," said the Chambers of Commerce's Mr Truscott.

"The pure process of moving the mindsets of millions of people who have been brought up over generations in a particular way is something that will take a long time to achieve.

"But in New Zealand we can help the process by talking about some of the problems in other economies and highlighting the benefits that would occur if we got a more common acceptance of the benefits of free trade."