Original Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade link: MT87
21 June 1995
The Government's trade policy statement, Winning Markets: Australia's Future in the Global Economy, forms the fourth pillar - with macro economic, micro economic and industry policy - of the Government's coordinated strategy to address the Current Account Deficit (CAD), the Minister for Trade, Senator Bob McMullan, said today.
Winning Markets was released in Sydney today by the Prime Minister.
Senator McMullan said the Government attaches the highest importance to the objective of creating wealth and jobs through exports - an objective set out in the policy statement.
"The Government is committed to the task of building further on our already significantly increased export performance, and Winning Markets details the programs and initiatives to help us achieve this goal," Senator McMullan said.
"We must now position ourselves to take the next steps forward, to build on the achievements of the past decade to become, in every way, a global trading nation.
"Winning Markets sets directions for the next five years or so, taking us into the next century.
"It provides not so much a road map as a series of signposts, pointing us in the direction of the goals we have set," Senator McMullan said.
Key points from the statement include:
While Australia's natural resource-based exports are - and will remain - an important source of wealth for Australia, a high priority for the Government will be to continue to develop Australia's new export strengths in manufactures and services
The multilateral system, based on MFN principles, remains the cornerstone of Australia's trade policy
Australia's trade policy needs to be conducted within a consciously flexible and pragmatic framework
Accordingly, Australia will seek to ensure that regional arrangements are compatible with the multilateral system while, at the same time, seeking to advance trade liberalisation and rule-making, bilaterally and regionally, when it is efficient to do so
The Government will continue to allocate its resources into areas where it can be of greatest assistance to Australian business - in particular, to small and medium enterprises in the manufacturing and service sectors which produce the greatest returns
A major challenge is to develop a broadly-based export culture to tap the reservoir of potential exporters.
Senator McMullan said Winning Markets sets out where the Government can add value in three broad areas - securing market access and opportunities for Australian goods and services; providing 'value-added' services to assist the efforts of exporters and potential exporters; and entrenching an export culture.
"The Winning Markets strategy sets out a number of practical initiatives that can assist Government to address these three areas," Senator McMullan said.
The initiatives are:
[See the attached Fact Sheets for more information on these initiatives.]
Further information: John Flannery, (06) 277 7420, 018 482 887