Envoy brings ’new zeal and’ energy to Korea
Korea Herald
Envoy brings ’new zeal and’ energy to Korea
By Yoav Cerralbo
6 March 2006
New Zealand’s latest ambassador to Korea has arrived in Seoul with the clear and stated determination to see her predecessor’s efforts for a free trade agreement come to fruition. Also featuring high on Jane Coombs’ agenda is promoting a higher level of cooperation in the fields of science and technology.
To achieve these goals, Coombs refers to extensive experience in multilateral and bilateral trade negotiations.
"I think the opportunity to have worked in the multilateral and bilateral arena provides me with broad experience which I can take full advantage of here in Korea," she said during an interview with The Korea Herald.
New Zealand has enjoyed an excellent relationship with Korea for over half a century. Since participating in the defense of the south during the Korean War, that relationship has grown to the point where Korea is New Zealand’s seventh largest trading partner and its sixth biggest export market.
"We are keen to take this relationship further and develop even closer economic linkages between our two countries," Coombs said. "Certainly we would be very interested in pursuing the prospect of a free trade agreement with Korea."
The Korean government is set to launch FTA talks with the United States and is exploring similar agreements with a number of other major trading partners. Coombs said with Korea’s obvious interest in expanding and nurturing its trade relationships, now would be an excellent time to explore bilateral economic issues that would be of mutual benefit to both countries.
"I think there are a lot of useful messages that I need to get out in terms of what the mutual benefits are. Also, I need to talk about the limited risks to the Korean economy that an FTA agreement with New Zealand would entail."
Korea’s agricultural sector is a particularly sensitive area in all bilateral trade negotiations. "Let me be clear straight up, New Zealand does not even produce rice. So a closer economic relationship with New Zealand would not have an impact on Korea’s sensitive agricultural sector," she stressed.
With respect to a number of other agricultural products that have raised concerns among Korea’s farmers, such as garlic, Coombs pointed out that New Zealand doesn’t export garlic to Korea.
Fruits and vegetables are another area of concern. However, Coombs said a lot of New Zealand’s fruits and vegetables are grown at different times of the year from their Korean counterparts, so there wouldn’t be a conflict in that regard.
"About our dairy exports, we do not export liquid milk which is the most important component of the Korean dairy industry," she said.
Concerning beef exports, Coombs said there is such a high demand for beef that Korea needs to import it from other countries such as the United States, Australia and New Zealand just to satisfy the demand.
"So I think that if we look into the different commodities we will see that a closer economic relationship with New Zealand would not have the negative impact that some people would fear it would," she said.
Besides the agricultural sector, Coombs is keen to get the message out that New Zealand is a country of innovative technologies.
Recently the New Zealand Trade and Enterprise Office held a seminar on the New Zealand information and communications technology sector to inform Korean companies about some of the highly innovative ICT work going on in her country.
"We are very small industry compared with Korea’s but there are some niche areas of excellent work going on in New Zealand. I’m excited about trying to get the word out on New Zealand’s technological advances," she said.
Part of any ambassador’s work is matching up people and companies from both countries to see what works, where the need is and what needs can be filled.
Coombs cited two examples of New Zealand companies that are doing ground breaking work and could possibly match up well with their Korean counterparts.
One is a company that has created the smallest computer chip in the world to be used in ground positioning systems. The other in the health sector "We are particularly good in health IT so I think software programs that are designed to underpin support in healthcare services can also be introduced to Korea," the ambassador said.
One of New Zealand’s highest profile exports right now are movies. Recent blockbusters like the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, "Narnia," and "The Last Samurai" have been a great source of entertainment and revenue, but have had the added benefit of raising interest in New Zealand and its culture.
"We have a growing and new linkage between our countries in the area of film collaboration and just last year an agreement was signed for cooperation in the audio visual field."
She added that the relationship with Korea in this sector has been growing stronger each year.
"Both countries have wonderfully innovative and creative directors and actors, and of course New Zealand is increasingly well known for its superb skills and facilities," she said. "So I think that it’s a very complimentary relationship between our two film sectors," she said.
Turning her focus to regional issues, the ambassador said this represents another important aspect of her work here.
"I would be wanting to have a close dialogue with my Korean hosts on a number of issues of relevance to the Asia pacific region, such as the east Asian summit and how that relationship is going to evolve in the coming years."
Also of great importance to New Zealand are security issues on the Korean Peninsula which Coombs plans to explore in some detail. The New Zealand Embassy in Seoul is also accredited in Pyongyang.
After a packed week at work, at the weekend Coombs likes to relax with the family. She’s married with a son and the weekend usually revolves around the interests of her 9 year old boy.
"We play a lot of sports; we go walking with our dog (a golden retriever named Chewbacca), watch movies, listen to music and just spend time together. Very much family oriented things."
When asked if she plans on hosting gatherings at her residence to watch the All Blacks rugby matches, she said that tradition begun by her predecessor will continue.
