e.
ra
e Hong Kong participation in relevant interna- tional forums, ecially APEC; seek to conclude relevant sepa- rate bilateral treaties and agreements with Hong Kong; continue to encourage actively bilateral trade and investment links; and develop further Hong Kong's potential as a source of fee-paying students, which will assist Hong Kong to overcome its skilled- labour shortage and promote Australian educational exports.
On the subject of immigration, we are prepared to be at least as generous as those other Western countries who have offered flexible immigration arrangements to Hong Kong residents. We will not introduce a right-of-abode scheme for Hong Kong resi- dents along the lines of the British nationality package, because that would compromise our universal non-discriminatory policy; we have spent almost 20 years trying to erase the slur of previ- ously discriminatory policies and we are not about to tar ourselves with that brush again. But as part of our global immigration policy, we do already offer flexible immigration arrangements which are at least as generous, if not more so, than the widely publicised US scheme, which provides that those executives of US companies who qualify for immigration on standard US criteria will be granted migrant visas that will not have to taken up until the year 2002.
Under Australia's resident-return policy, Hong Kong em- ployees of Australian firms who qualify under standard criteria for immigration to Australia, and their families, are effectively permitted to continue to reside in Hong Kong after they have obtained permanent residence in Australia. The flexibility of this policy means in effect that such employees of Australian com- panies may return to Hong Kong for up to five years at a time immediately after their migrant entry into Australia. Such peo- ple would, in principle, need to spend only one day in Australia every five years to retain their right to reside in Australia as long as they remained employed by Australian companies.
Again, as part of its global policy, Australia also offers flexible immigration arrangements to Hong Kong residents who are not employees of Australian companies. If, during the first three years after a migrant enters Australia, a family member gains Australian citizenship (which requires only two years' actual physical residence), that migrant qualifies for the same flexible arrangements as apply to employees of Australian firms, i.e., they need in principle to spend only one day in Australia during the first three years and, thereafter, only one day every five years.
Wein Australia have no doubt where our future lies. We want to be good international citizens, and we want to be good regional neighbours. We want to maximise our economic interests, and maintain and increase the standard of living of our own people. We understand the dynamics, explosive growth until now, and the potential for further explosive growth in the future, in the Asia-Pacific region.
We believe we have much to contribute to the region as well as to derive from it and that our record in recent years demonstrates the nature and extent of that commitment. We look forward to joining with, and working with, Hong Kong and everyone else in the region to ensure that together we reap the rewards-economic, political, strategic and cultural - that only a genuinely coopera- tive partnership can bring.
Food Aid Convention Extended
The Minister for Trade and Overseas Development, Dr Neal Blewett, has agreed Australia's minimum annual food-aid com- mitment to developing countries should be maintained at 300 000 tonnes of wheat (or its equivalent in other grains) for the next two financial years. The allocation is provided under the umbrella of the Food Aid Convention, an international treaty to which Aus- tralia is signatory, and which is expected to be extended for a further two years from June.
The Food Aid Convention is an important institutional frame- work under which donor countries pledge minimum annual quantities of food aid, enhancing food security in developing countries and exerting a stabilising influence on global grain trade. The Australian commitment provides continuing support for grain producers at a time of depressed international prices.
Minimum pledges by member countries of the Food Aid Convention total 7.5 million tonnes. Since 1984-85, however, more than 10 million tonnes has been provided each year. Over 90 per cent of Australian food aid is provided in the form of grain, mainly wheat, wheat flour and rice.
Maize to Mozambique Through Rice Swap with Zimbabwe Australia is to supply 15 000 tonnes of maize for emergency feeding in Mozambique and to support Mozambican refugees in Malawi. The maize is from Zimbabwe, which produces a sur- plus. Australia provided rice to Zimbabwe in exchange for the maize. Australia was among the first countries to adopt this practice of "swaps" or "triangular transactions” with developing countries in order to ensure that commodities supplied as food aid meet the dietary preferences of the recipient country. White maize is the preferred food for poor and rural Mozambicans.
This year the swap involved 8108 tonnes of Australian rice to Zimbabwe for the 15 000 tonnes of white maize. The swap was to have been in the order of 24 000 tonnes of maize, but the Zimbabwean surplus in maize was reduced by drought. The distribution of the maize is managed on behalf of the Australian International Development Assistance Bureau (AIDAB) by World Vision Australia and the World Food Program.
New Food Aid Commodity: Faba Beans
For the first time, Australian faba beans are to be supplied as food aid. AIDAB is buying 3-4000 tonnes of the beans from Australian growers through the Wheat Board for use in emergency feeding programs in Mozambique. CARE Australia is managing the distribution of the beans. About 10 per cent (or $10 million) of the food-aid budget is used to procure non-grain items. Bilateral Food Aid: a Profile of Tanzania
Australia's food-aid program to Tanzania began in 1974 and since then Tanzania has received a large share of Australia's develop- ment food aid to Africa. The program has consisted largely of wheat, although flour, maize, rice and sorghum have also been provided. In 1990-91, Australia supplied 5000 tonnes of flour valued at $2.3 million. Since the early 1980s Tanzania's food security has improved dramatically. As a result, Australian food aid has declined and is not expected to continue next year.Upon arrival in Tanzania, this year's flour shipment was sold on the local market. As in other years, the funds generated are to be used to finance development projects agreed to jointly by Australia and the Tanzanian Government. Australia hopes to use this year's funds to support the Women's Credit Program in Tanza- nia. This program was established with Australian counterpart funds in 1987. Under the management of the Cooperative and Rural Development Bank, finance is provided to women who are unable to meet the bank's normal lending requirements. Priority is given to agricultural, livestock and agro-industrial projects.
14
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.