TEN years ago, when New Zealand aspired to become an 'Asian Tiger', the world shrugged off its ambition as a pipe-dream. Now the 'tiger' is roaring louder than most and scoring economic successes.
A recent World Competitiveness Report compiled by the World Economic Forum placed New Zealand eighth on a list of the world's most competitive economies, just behind Singapore, Hong Kong and Japan. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development ranked New Zealand as the world's seventh most competitive business environment - up from 18th in 1991.
For the first time in memory, New Zealand this year went out of the red and into the black with a positive net worth - something which seemed unlikely for an economy that only a decade ago teetered on the brink of bankruptcy.
It is an even more dynamic turnaround considering that, in the mid-1980s, New Zeaand's growth rate was the lowest in the industrialised world and the deficit rose to 95 per cent of Gross Domestic Product. The government currently has a surplus while foreign debt is expected to be eliminated by June 30, 1997.
New Zealand's Consul-General in Hong Kong, Carl Worker, said Hong Kong, China and the other major economies of Asia had contributed enormously to New Zealand's success.
The groundwork was in government policy, with New Zealand abandoning its 'fortress' mentality in the South Pacific and embarking on an economic revolution of privatisation and globalisation.
Trade barriers which blocked the importation of Japanese televisions and cameras, along with German cars and just about anything else made abroad, were dismantled almost overnight.