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Lin Yi-fu heads down under for trade talks

Minister of Economic Affairs Lin Yi-fu (林義夫) yesterday departed for a week-long visit to Australia and New Zealand where he will seek to stir up further trade cooperation amid Taiwan's already brisk economic ties.

Taiwan's eagerness to pursue free trade agreements around the region could be met with a receptive audience in New Zealand, where officials are reportedly interested in such a deal.

However, similar suggestions in Australia won't likely be greeted too enthusiastically when Lin meets with Minister for Trade Mark Vaile, as Australia is already tied up juggling trade deals with Singapore and the US, according to officials.

Lin will first travel to Auckland to attend a meeting of the New Zealand-Taiwan Business Council that starts tomorrow and runs until Friday.

He will then travel on to Perth to attend the annual meeting of the Australian Taiwan Business Council and the Republic of China Australia Business Council.

"We hope that the business council's meeting and the minis-ter's visit will help promote further trade between Australia and Taiwan, especially now that Taiwan has joined the WTO. It opens up new prospects for cooperation," said Graeme Meehan, deputy director of the Australia Commerce and Industry Office in Taipei.

But while Lin discussed the FTA issue with Australian counterparts during the Mexico APEC meeting in May, and President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) has been plugging the benefits of inking one with the US, Japan and ASEAN member nations, it won't be on the agenda at the Australian conference.

"It's not a subject of discussion," Meehan said.

"Our position is we could consider looking at the option at some future date, but these tings take some time and effort," he said.

"At the moment we're in the middle of serious negotiations on one with Singapore. We're also looking at the beginnings of one with the US," he said.

"We can't run a whole bundle of these negotiations at once. There's just too much work involved and too few people to do it all," he added.

Lin may have more luck with signing an FTA with New Zealand during his stay in Auckland.

A recent report in the New Zealand Herald said Trade Negotiations Minister Jim Sutton would be interested in considering such a deal, though the no formal proposal had yet been submitted by Taiwan, it said.

"We're definitely interested in trade agreements. We are really keen to improve market access for New Zealand exporters in markets all over the world. But this is not a formal proposal," Sutton's spokeswoman was quoted by the Herald as saying.

Sutton will attend the New Zealand-Taiwan Business Council meeting along with former prime minister and former ambassador to the US Jim Bolger.

Taiwan ranked as Australia's 8th largest trading partner last year by value and New Zealand's 8th largest export market also by value as of June this year.
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