APEC Business Advisory Council Dinner

May I begin by greeting everyone in the languages of the realm of New Zealand, in English, Maori, Cook Island Maori, Niuean, Tokelauan and New Zealand Sign Language.   Greetings, Kia Ora, Kia Orana, Fakalofa Lahi Atu, Taloha Ni and as it is the evening (Sign)

May I specifically greet you: Teng Theng Dar, Chair of the APEC Business Advisory Council and your fellow council members notably current New Zealand members; Tony Nowell, John Blackham, Gary Judd QC, and Brian Lynch; Hon Tim Groser, Minister of Trade; Hon Philip Burdon, Chair of the Asia New Zealand Foundation; Tim Gibson, Chief Executive of New Zealand Trade and Enterprise; Distinguished Guests from Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Philippines, Russian Federation, Singapore, Thailand, United States of America and Vietnam, as well as New Zealand; Ladies and Gentlemen.

Thank you for the invitation to join you here at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa for this dinner to mark the first APEC Business Advisory Council meeting of the year for 2009.

As Governor-General, it gives me great pleasure to welcome you all to Wellington and to New Zealand.  I trust that as well as attending to the business before the council, you will also have the opportunity to explore some more of our beautiful country while you are here.

The APEC Business Advisory Council last met in New Zealand almost five years ago in August 2004. 

In the time since that gathering in Auckland, the outlook for the global economy has dramatically changed.

In 2004, discussions focused on trade liberalisation from the perspective of a prosperous world economy.

In 2009, those discussions are being held against a dire economic backdrop that threatens to be the most severe experienced since that in the Great Depression of the 1930s.

To this day, economists continue to disagree on the causes of catastrophe of the 1930s and they will no doubt be arguing about the causes of this one in a few years’ time.

It’s little wonder that President Harry Truman once pleaded for a “one armed economist.”  He grew tired of economists who would give him a good recommendation, only to then add: “But on the other hand Mr President we could do this instead.”

But seriously, if there is one thing economists do agree upon, it is that attempts in the 1930s to protect national economies by raising tariffs and trade barriers made a bad situation much worse by reducing international trade.

The temptation to do the same again in 2009 will no doubt be strong.  Those who attempt to erect fortress economies may find that their castles are made of sand that crumbles on the incoming tide.

As APEC Business Advisory Council members, your prime accountability is to the APEC leaders who appointed you.

However, collectively you have an unrivalled opportunity to influence the leaders and trade and finance ministers of many of the world’s more significant economies.

Those recommendations are most likely to be well-received if they are focused on solutions.  The threats to the world economy are too dire and serious for energy to be lost on finger pointing.

They are also more likely to be well-received if they are broad-based in their approach.  They need to be recommendations that recognise the importance of issues outside a narrow prescription of tariff levels and concerns of big business.  You will need to proffer a balanced view that also examines issues such as employment, the environment and education as well as balancing the needs of small, medium and big business.

I wish you all the best with your ongoing deliberations and the preparation of your report to this year’s APEC Leaders Summit in Singapore later this year.  For all of us, the road ahead will be difficult and will pose challenges that few living today can recall. 

Given the size of the challenges ahead, I cannot think of a more appropriate comment with which to conclude than one from Abraham Lincoln who, at the height of the American Civil War, spoke to Congress in the following words: "The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew, and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves."

And with that challenge, I will close in New Zealand’s first language Maori, by offering everyone greetings and wishing you all good health and fortitude in your endeavours.  No reira, tena koutou, tena koutou, kia ora, kia kaha, tena koutou katoa.