Wellington, 28 May 1982
No1871. RESTRICTED IMMEDIATE
ANZCER: Export Incentives
The Prime Minister rang Mr Anthony today to inform him that New Zealand, after consulting with the Manufacturers’ Federation, would accept a phase-out date for export incentives of 31 March 1987 (or 1 April 1987, if Mr Anthony prefers).
The Prime Minister also mentioned that it would be necessary to reach a quick resolution of the outstanding intermediate goods issue on whiteware. You should make the point that a tidy agreement on whiteware is of considerable importance to the New Zealand Government’s ability to present an acceptable CER package. Since New Zealand has met the Australian viewpoint both on export incentives and the terminating date for quantitative restrictions, we trust that there will be a comparable readiness to accept the New Zealand viewpoint that any remedy of an intermediate goods problem in whiteware should be by way of an export tax.
[AALR 873, W4446/Boxes 312-313, 61/Aus/2/2/1 Part 2 Archives New Zea1and/Te Whare Tohu Tuhituhinga 0 Aotearoa, Head Office, Wellington]