South Australia & World Trade Issues in 2003

The Return to Business Dinner
12 February 2003
Hyatt Regency Hotel, Adelaide

Good evening. It’s a real honour to be invited to speak at such an important and traditional gathering. Let me also say how glad I am to be here in South Australia. When the offer was made to me to come out and head up the new Institute, the fact that the job was in Adelaide was a big selling point for me. I love it here. It’s a great place to live and to work and I am confident that the people in this room tonight are going back to business to make this state an even better place in the future.

2003 is going to be a very big year for international trade. That will make it a big year for South Australia and the country. What happens over the next ten months will be critical to the future of the global trade negotiations at the WTO and to Australia’s trade relations with the United States.

Most of us don’t stop to think about the ways in which major trade agreements affect our daily lives. The lower cost of your telephone bill is directly related to a 1997 WTO services agreement? Everyone today is in competition internationally. A business that believes its competitors are only local will sooner or later be in for a shock. There are no markets where your competitors cannot reach your customers.

This year’s negotiations on a free trade agreement with the USA and WTO’s global round are important because international trade is so closely linked to this country’s overall economic performance. With one in five Australian jobs directly reliant on exports, keeping international markets open and working for greater trade liberalization have got to remain priority policy goals.

Of course, it’s important that the agreements are good agreements that provide real access to markets. A “trophy agreement” won’t fool anyone and wouldn’t be worth much.

2003 is going to be an important year. We had better get ready for what’s coming our way.

Thank you for your attention. I look forward to working with you.