JOURNALIST:
[inaudible] ... where Australian technology is leading?
TREASURER:
This is an area where Australia has pioneered the technology. We were the first country in the world to introduce polymer notes. We have now exported the technology to around 20 countries around the world, and we are launching the new 20 peso note here in Mexico today, which is the first of the North American economies to use this technology. Brazil is also using it in South America. And I think if it goes well in the 20 pesos, as the Governor of the Bank of Mexico has said they have a plan to use it for all of the Mexican currency, and we have the opportunity to extend it.
JOURNALIST:
I am sorry. You said that half the notes have been printed in Australia. Half of how many [inaudible]?
TREASURER:
I cannot give you the precise number.
JOURNALIST:
How many have been printed in Australia?
TREASURER:
Fifty per cent of the 20 peso notes which are ready for circulation were printed in Australia. The other 50 per cent have been printed here in Mexico, but using the Australian hallmark. And that is the stratum for the over-printing of the note.
JOURNALIST:
You were in the APEC Finance Ministers' Meeting - what, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday in Los Cabos. You mentioned that. You also mentioned in the easy and the hard question, at the same time, about the realisation obviously of 11 September coming up in just two days' time. Concerning this, there was a story in Reuters just 24 hours ago saying that people close to Saddam Hussein, his former girl friend apparently, and son, have mentioned that he had given money to Osama Bin Laden in '97. That he had met him and given finance, money. Surely this is something of concern to APEC, I mean that Saddam Hussein, that obviously the pressure on Saddam Hussein from the States, actually met this person according to two people, including his son.
TREASURER:
Sure. Well look, we are very conscious that terrorism is financed in the past, often through conventional banking systems, and APEC has been working very hard to ensure that throughout all of the economies involved, and wider than that, throughout all the economies of the world, measures are put in place to allow money for terrorism to be tracked and to be intercepted. And a good part of the APEC meeting was discussing with the economies involved, how to identify money that could be used for financing terrorism and how to intercept it. And if you can do that, it is a big ask, because sometimes there are small amounts that are involved. But if you can do that, you can intercept terrorism before it comes to an outcome, which is obviously the best way of ensuring security.
JOURNALIST:
Do you think this justifies the United States' pressure for an attack on Iraq? I mean, what is the Australian Government position on this, given the fact that an amount of money did change hands between Saddam Hussein and Osama Bin Laden?
TREASURER:
Look, the Australian Government obviously is monitoring the situation very carefully. We are very interested to see the discussions which will come out of the UN as to whether there will be any advance from that quarter on inspections and on disabling weapons of mass destruction. We believe that it is important that weapons of mass destruction do not fall into terrorist hands, or the hands of any other country that would be tempted to use them. And we will be giving our full backing to the international community in its efforts in that regard.
JOURNALIST:
Going back just for a moment to the Double Taxation system. I mean, how much money do you think you will save from doing this, and how can you encourage Australian business people in this part of the world?
TREASURER:
Well, Australia exports a lot of commodities - coal, meat - to Mexico, and as of now, it exports polymer technology, the bank notes. Mexico, on the other hand, exports some auto parts, some textiles, to Australia. Mexico is a very large economy. It is around about the ninth largest economy in the world, and we would like to build trade. Putting in place a Double Taxation Agreement will help build trade and investment. And that will be good for both economies. And what a Double Taxation Agreement does is, it makes it clear who has taxing powers in respect of particular items. It is going to help avoid tax avoidance between companies that are trading multinationally, and it is going to improve our fiscal outcomes.
JOURNALIST:
What is your view of what's going on at the moment in South America, because I mean Argentina's in layman's terms, in one heck of a mess. Brazil's just received 30 billion plus from the IMF to make sure it doesn't go the same way. And a lot of smaller countries near them are suffering fairly badly as well. And obviously the effect needs to be limited so it doesn't come further into Central, and even North, America?
TREASURER:
Well, look it is very worrying. The Argentinian economy has contracted by something like 13 per cent last year, four years of recession in a row, the currency has been forced to a massive devaluation, and the economy is reeling. There have been massive problems in Brazil. There have been attempts to stabilise the situation. I guess the good thing is, there does not appear to have been in relation to Mexico, any of the problems that have happened in the past, with contagion. That is a good thing, I congratulate the Mexican authorities. They are seeing the benefits for economic reform. I hope their economy can continue to grow, that we can find good two-way trade, and I guess we all hope that the US economy recovers in the course of 2002. It is the engine for global growth, and that is going to be important for Mexico. It will be no less important for the rest of the world.
JOURNALIST:
[inaudible] ... Double Taxation Agreement ... I would like to know which sectors are the Australian interested in investing in Mexico?
TREASURER:
Well, we have been investing in mining in Mexico. We are very interested in that area. We would be interested in some of the technology and service areas as well, and we would welcome investment from Mexico back into Australia. Two way investment is a good deal.
JOURNALIST:
Financial systems?
TREASURER:
We will see.
JOURNALIST:
Thank you very much.