The New Zealand-Soviet Union/CIS Economic Relationship: Problems and Prospects in a Time of Change

Abstract

The economic relations of New Zealand and the former Soviet Union since the mid-1980s have reflected the dramatic changes in the political and economic environment of the Soviet Union, culminating in the disintegration of the Union at the end of 1991. The ending of the Cold War and wide-reaching reforms have completely altered the political and economic environment within which New Zealand-Soviet Union relations had been conducted. Despite earlier steps towards the liberalization of foreign economic relations, there were no tangible changes in the administration of external economic activity and the state monopoly on Soviet foreign trade even by the end of 1988. The principal landmark in the decentralization of foreign economic relations was the decree of 1988 which made possible direct access for enterprises and organizations to foreign partners as of April 1989. Complementing this and subsequent decrees and legislation in this field was the formulation of policies with regard to foreign economic relations of economic programs both at central and republican levels in 1990 and 1991. Equally significant was the parallel development of political and economic decentralization, following the growing assertion of economic and legal sovereignty by republican and subrepublican authorities.¹

An earlier version of this chapter was published in the journal Soviet Union (Union Sovietique), Moscow, Russia, copyrighted by Charles Schlachs, Jr., Publisher, California.