Australia attacked over Asian aid cancellation<\/p>\n
SYDNEY (AFP): Four Asian countries have made strong protests
\nto the Australian government over its cancellation of an aid
\nscheme tied to contracts they had negotiated with Australian
\ncompanies, a shadow minister said.<\/p>\n
China, Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam were close to
\nsigning contracts worth A$1 billion (US$800 million) sweetened
\nwith the offer of soft loans under Canberra's Development Import
\nFinance Facility (DIFF) scheme.<\/p>\n
But opposition foreign affairs spokesman Laurie Brereton said
\nthe scheme had become a casualty of budget cuts by the new
\ngovernment and the contracts had been lost -- with \"enormously
\nadverse consequences for our relationship with Asia.\"<\/p>\n
The DIFF scheme, which provided aid equivalent to about 35
\npercent of the value of a contract, had generated trade valued at
\nA$1.2 billion for A$126 million in expenditure in the 1995\/96
\nfinancial year, Brereton said.<\/p>\n
Figures released this month by Canberra's aid agency AusAid
\nshowed 50 contracts involving 86 Australian companies in the
\npipeline under the scheme this year were worth A$1.074 billion.<\/p>\n
\"This meant enormous job opportunities for Australians\",
\nBrereton said in a television interview.<\/p>\n
\"Many of these projects are already in the pipeline so it's
\nnot just a case of forgone opportunity for Australia. These are
\nprojects in respect of which we have memorandums of understanding
\nwith the governments of the host country.\"<\/p>\n
In some cases, host governments had spent many millions of
\ndollars in preparation for these projects.<\/p>\n
\"This is the reason that Indonesia, China, Vietnam and the
\nPhilippines have all called our ambassadors in and have protested
\nabout the proposed abolition. It's not just a case of the nations
\ninvolved or a few industries.<\/p>\n
\"Every reputable business commentator, every business leader
\nin Australia has said that this is a very foolish proposition.\"<\/p>\n
Officials in Canberra say the DIFF scheme was similar to
\nprograms operated by most western industrialized countries and
\nall of Australia's major competitors in the Asia-Pacific region.<\/p>\n
Brereton said the abolition of DIFF meant \"that we are going
\nto be completely uncompetitive with the Netherlands, France, with
\nItalian companies who will be bidding for this work.\"<\/p>\n
Australia's ruling conservative coalition had criticized the
\nthen Labor government \"for being too engaged with Asia and saying
\nthey wanted to turn us back to our more traditional ties,\"
\nBrereton said.<\/p>\n
\"But putting aside the rhetoric the reality is that some of
\nthe measures now see coming through like the abolition of the
\nDIFF scheme will have enormously adverse consequences for our
\nrelationship with Asia.<\/p>\n
One casualty of the abolition of DIFF is the Melbourne-based
\nTransfield Defense Systems Pty. Ltd. which had tendered for a
\nA$60 million (US$48 million) contract to supply three search and
\nrescue ships to the Philippines.<\/p>\n
The project had qualified for DIFF support worth more than
\nA$20 million and Transfield had high hopes of winning against at
\nleast two other overseas bids.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/australia-attacked-over-asian-aid-cancellation-1447893297",
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