CANZUK International has been interviewed by the BBC regarding its proposals for free movement, free trade and foreign policy cooperation between Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom, and the role Britain will play outside of the European Union.
Speaking with Manuela Saragosa of the Business Daily Program, Chief Executive of CANZUK International, James Skinner, responded to questions regarding the organisation’s ongoing campaign, the reasoning behind developing free trade between the four Commonwealth countries and the dynamics of free movement for citizens.
“What our organisation at CANZUK International is aiming to do is establish free movement, free trade and foreign policy cooperation between [Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the UK]”, Skinner said. “Free trade obviously for the betterment of each country’s economy, free movement – similar to what we have with the European Union right now – and also foreign policy cooperation whereby these four countries can work towards constitutional matters in terms of human rights, educational developments, etc.”
Saragosa asked about the CANZUK campaign’s initiative and the purpose of establishing migration and trade deals between the four countries:
“The countries that you’ve grouped under “CANZUK”; they have in common that they’re all English language countries, they’re all Anglo-Saxon countries”, she said. “Is the point that the countries that make up this grouping are all economically and, dare i say it, ethnically similar?”
Skinner responded: “Economically similar, absolutely…ethnically similar, not so much. If we were going to go with a grouping of Commonwealth countries who were majority Caucasian, we would have brought Cypress and Malta into it, but you’ll notice we haven’t…
“We have to make sure that all the countries in this initiative conform to an economic and social standard for this to work. If we have countries coming in whereby they don’t conform to the economic standards, we’re going to have problems occurring. The reason Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the UK can function in this way is because they are so economically and socially similar; they share the same Sovereign – Queen Elizabeth II – they share the same Westminster style parliamentary system, the same common-law legal system, the same respect for democracy, human rights and the rule of law…”
The full interview can be listened to below:
CANZUK International will continue to speak with prominent media corporations about the development of free movement, free trade and foreign policy between Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom, and will be meeting with senior government officials over the coming months to discuss such trade negotiations and migration agreements.
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