3 April 2002

Clayton Cosgrove
Member of Parliament for Waimakariri

Waimakariri Member of Parliament Clayton Cosgrove announced today that he has been appointed a member of the World Economic Forum’s Free Trade Task Force.

The Task Force, whose objective is to promote global trade liberalisation, is coordinated by Mattew Cadbury, the Chief Executive of Cadbury Schweppes Hudson, who is based in India. The purpose of the group is to encourage faster progress towards free trade as a means to increase wealth in the world and reduce poverty.

Members of the task force include Ian Goldin, Director of Development Policy at the World Bank in Washington, David Kamenetzky, an Associate at the leading investments firm Goldman Sachs in Germany, and Paola Ghillani, Chief Executive Officer of Switzerland’s Max Havelaar Foundation (a company dedicated to opening the markets of developed countries under fair and sustainable conditions of trade).

The appointment follows Mr Cosgrove’s nomination, earlier this year, as one of the World Economic Forum’s 100 Global Leaders for Tomorrow. Each year members of the World Economic Forum nominate 100 new Global Leaders. Mr Cosgrove is the first New Zealand politician to be selected.

At the Forum’s annual meeting in New York in January, Mr Cosgrove met a number of high profile political leaders and business people including: Former US President Bill Clinton, New York Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and Larry Page, Co-Founder and Chief Executive of Google Incorporated, the major internet search engine.

“I am delighted to be a member of this Task Force. This appointment gives me another opportunity to work on promoting free trade which will be of immense benefit to New Zealand’s export sector. The task force will be instrumental in demystifying free trade and promoting the facts. Trade liberalisation can only be positive for both developed and developing countries,” Mr Cosgrove said.

New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark has just returned from a trip to the USA where she took positive steps to promote a free trade agreement between the United States and New Zealand.

“Many countries look to New Zealand as a positive example of how trade liberalisation can benefit workers and businesses. Free trade is good for New Zealand, for Canterbury and of course for Waimakariri,” Mr Cosgrove said.

Mr Cosgrove is the first New Zealand politician to be appointed to such a task force.

ENDS

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