ery and meat) and American

Samoa (rice).

A new impetus to trade in the region may emerge following development of the proposed regional trade agreement between Australia and the countries of the South Pacific Forum. The agreement, which may be concluded later this year or early next year, may provide for improved trading arrangements in favour of the Island member countries on the basis of access to the Australian market for a wide range of products.

But such an agreement should be looked at in the light of the fact that already over 80% of Island products arriving in Australia enter on a dutyfree basis.

An agreement of this nature will complement Australia’s direct assistance to the Islands in their economic development.

Based on a $6O million rolling programme over three years, Australia has provided aid covering a wide variety of industries and projects ranging from a hydro-electric power generation plant in Solomon Islands to cocoa industry rehabilitation in Western

Samoa to fisheries develop ment in Tonga. The range of aid provided for includes train ing, provision of experts, joint venture schemes, feasibility studies and development bank grants.

Australia is also helping the Islands develop their export markets so essential for these developing industries. A Mar ket Advisory Service has been established to help with all as pects of marketing products in Australia. This assistance takes the form of trade fairs and exhibitions, Island selling missions and the facilitating of contact between exporters and

Australian importers.

Last year, Australia sent a trade and development mission to Tonga, Western Samoa, Nauru and Solomon Islands to identify the needs for invest ment and technology transfer [ n each country, and provide advice on the most effective means of promoting Australian participation in their export trade. The mission reported a ran ge of potential investments i n each country. Since April this year, an officer of the Aus tralian Trade Commissioner Service has been employed

full-time, drawing the atten tion of appropriate Australian firms to these investment opportunities, and some 32 companies have indicated posi tive interest.

Meanwhile, as with PNG, Australian exporters need to be aware of the growth of indus tries in the Islands, particularly the import substitution indus tries. Partly because of their growth, the Australian share of the South Pacific market has been declining in recent years.

There is also need for Aus tralia to look at the various Islands separately, some of which are very small markets but give wide scope for expan sion. French Polynesia par ticularly offers excellent potential, but is often overlooked by Australian businessmen. With growing economic development will come increased opportunities which Australia is in a prime

position to satisfy.

HAWAII: Hawaii cannot be regarded with other Pacific countries as a developing country. Indeed, as part of the USA, and with a standard of

living substantially higher than

elsewhere in the Pacific, it offers a good potential market for Australian goods. At pre sent, Australia has only a small role in the market, with $ 14.9 m worth of sales in a market valued at $1 061 million in 1978. A high percentage of Australia’s exports to Hawaii are manufactured goods, par

ticularly machinery, metal pro

ducts and textiles. This is a significant growth area, as Hawaii imports virtually all its

manufactured requirements.

Hawaii’s vast tourist industry also has potential for Australia, with its demand for sporting goods, apparel and food stuffs.

Australia is well placed geo graphically to compete with mainland United States sup pliers for the Hawaiian market, and Hawaii provides Aus tralian exporters with a testing ground for product acceptance before launching export drives in the United States main land.

But one fact remains con stant with a greater interflow between each nation, the greater will be the benefits to the total region.