And we will reduce the burden of regulation and paperwork on business. The Government is about reducing business costs, about helping business, not hindering it. The national competition policy reforms agreed by Australian Governments in April 1995 will support the microeconomic reform strategy. We are already pursuing a full agenda on competition policy, including the Wallis inquiry into financial regulation, reviews by all governments of regulatory impediments, and a stocktake of microeconomic reform by the Productivity Commission. The overseas dimension of trade policy integrates multilateral, regional and bilateral approaches, each of which reinforces the others.
Multilateral approaches offer the largest gains but are generally the slowest.
The WTO system also provides stability by establishing a framework of rules that set the reference points for work at the regional and bilateral level. In the next few months the Government will be working to ensure the best possible outcome at the first WTO Ministerial meeting, to be held in Singapore this December. The Singapore meeting needs to set up the work program for another comprehensive round of WTO negotiations by 1999. Our regional approach focuses on APEC, and aims to provide leadership and a demonstration effect for the multilateral system. In a world where regionalism is a growing trend, the WTO needs to become at least as ambitious as the major regional agreements if it is to stay relevant to international trade and business.