Alliance commits to regional Pacific cooperation
Alliance commits to regional cooperation in the Pacific
Matt Robson MP Thu Sep 23 1999
The Asia pacific region must build itself into a strong and co-operative community of nations if it is to hold its own in the world and guarantee that an East Timor never happens again, Alliance spokesperson on Foreign Affairs, Matt Robson said today.
He was talking at a public meeting in Dunedin today, where he released elements of the Alliance international affairs policy.
Matt
Robson was one of five MPs who went to East Timor in a
parliamentary delegation as part of the UN supervision of
the referendum.
'Events in East Timor make us look at
our responsibility as New Zealanders to the Asia Pacific
region. That is why I am so proud to see our soldiers part
of a force bringing peace to those war-torn
streets.
'We must also look beyond the immediacy of
what needs to be done in East Timor, and take a leadership
role to build the whole region so that this never happens
again.
'I believe we can be a vibrant group of nations
who play an active but independent role in world affairs. We
must work together to build our economic strength, while
safe-guarding our sovereignty as different
nations.
'Economic development across the region would
see the growth of new industries and businesses that would
directly benefit this part of the world.
'The APEC
agenda has become a straight-jacket for economic and social
development in many of the APEC countries. Its only goal is
to lift restrictions for foreigners to buy more and more
pieces of countries like New Zealand.
'Real regional
co-operation, on the other hand, would allow us all to build
industries, create jobs, and introduce workplace standards
across the region. Regional agreements on standards like
minimum wage across the region and the eradication of child
labour would have significant effects on economic
development in New Zealand.
'The Alliance is committed
to working with the South Pacific Forum and its specialist
agencies to advance co-operation in trade, information
exchange, transport, fisheries protection and environmental
protection.
'The Alliance is committed to developing a
greater leadership role for New Zealand in the Asia Pacific
region. We must ensure that never again does a New Zealand
government show decades of support for the Indonesian
invaders, and fail until now to protect the people of East
Timor,' said Matt
Robson.