Official Lunch Hosted By President Of The Republic Of Peru

HIS EXCELLENCY MR ALBERTO FUJIMORI
Torre Taglo Palace
Lima, Peru

I am honoured to be here today as Prime Minister of New Zealand and as Chair of APEC - the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation process.

It is a privilege to be the first visit New Zealand Head of Government ever to visit Peru.

Your successful visit to New Zealand last June, Mr President, did much to interest New Zealanders in the growing links between our countries.

Your evident interest and expertise in agriculture, when you visited our National Agricultural Field Days, struck a chord with New Zealanders, as did your commitment to economic reforms, and building stronger links with New Zealand.

We are each Pacific nations, sharing the shores of the world's largest ocean.

From each of our shores we look out on the Pacific, a region that will be the economic powerhouse of the world in the coming century.

For too long, New Zealand and Peru failed to acknowledge our shared Pacific heritage.

In recent years, though, the El Nino effect has been a sharp reminder of how close we really our. This "child" from your part of the world brought our farmers terrible droughts, while you suffered devastating flooding.

The economic downturn which started from Asia in 1997 also spread, like a wave, to affect growth, employment and exports around the Pacific Basin.

Thankfully, New Zealand and Peru each have resilient economies, resourceful people, and robust government policies. Taken together, these have helped both our countries recover from external shocks - whether of a climatic or economic character.

In uncertain times one of the best things governments can do is to seek deeper relations with friends and neighbours, and open our economies to new opportunities for trade and investment.

I hope my visit will add to that momentum, just as your visit to New Zealand last June, Mr President, helped open New Zealanders' eyes to the wide range of interests our countries have in common.

We have a similar attitudes towards world trade.

Both our economies rely on open markets, and fair trade rules, to buy and sell the goods and services we need for growth and development.

We have a shared interest in seeing stable prices and markets for the commodities which remain important to each of us - be they fish, minerals, timber or agricultural products.

New Zealand, like Peru, is a global trading nation.

For all that, some 70 percent of our trade and investment occurs within the Asia Pacific region.

The APEC process, of which I am Chair this year, is an important tool for regional integration and support.

As Chair of APEC, New Zealand is delighted to be working closely with Peru in this first full year of your membership.

We are intent on using our year as Chair to encourage support from the APEC membership for better international trade rules and the launch of a new round of global trade negotiations through the WTO.

One key lesson from the Asian downturn is that recovery, stability and growth go hand in hand with markets that are open, transparent and well governed.

We want to see APEC deliver practical results in this area by helping identify policy options which can strengthen the role of markets, encourage cooperation and achieve sustainable growth in all of APEC's member economies.

We welcome very much the increased bilateral contacts that are occurring between our officials, Ministers and private sectors as a consequence of our APEC partnership.

Just as our economic links are growing, so too are our shared interests in the environmental arena.

We are joint partners in preserving Antarctica.

Right now The Antarctic Treaty system is facing new challenges, including pressures from illegal and unsustainable fishing for toothfish in the Southern Ocean.

Peru has a key role to play later this month as you host in Lima the Twenty-third Consultative Meeting of Parties to the Antarctic Treaty.

We wish you well in that responsibility and assure you of New Zealand's support and cooperation in addressing the issues that face the Treaty system in this its fortieth year.

In addition to these global and regional links our bilateral relations are expanding rapidly in such areas as trade, tourism, science and education.

New Zealanders, like Peruvians, are practical people who look for results in preference to words.

We have an open economy and I would invite Peruvian companies and business people to explore the opportunities in the New Zealand market for Peruvian products.

Already, a new Quarantine Arrangement between us has opened the way for exports of Peruvian mangoes into New Zealand.

I look forward to other such exciting and delicious products from Peru arriving in New Zealand's markets.

We hope to see this year the negotiation of an open skies air services agreement between us - so that goods, people and tourists can move more readily both ways.

Educational and scientific exchanges between us are blossoming.

Links have been forged between our educational institutions, including Lincoln University and the Agricultural University of La Molina.

This is especially pleasing Mr President, as I understand you are a former Chancellor of that fine institution, while Lincoln University is in my own electorate in New Zealand.

Cooperation arrangements are also under way in such areas as fishing and geological sciences.

These various initiatives give me great optimism for the future of our relationship.

I expect that the next decade will see the countries of the Pacific Rim move steadily towards a sense of 'pacific community' governed not so much by formal agreements as by a sense of common policies, shared interests, and a habit of working closely together.

I am confident that New Zealand and Peru will in that process get to know each other much better as partners, neighbours and friends.

We have made a good start.

Now I look forward to building further on that momentum into the next century.