NETHERLANDS EDUCATOR FEELS NAFTA WILL HELP

An official of a Netherlands business school says the North American Free Trade Agreement would be good for the United States.

Matt Heckman, coordinator of international relations for the Limburg Business School in Sittard, the Netherlands, said Wednesday that NAFTA could result in a North American trading bloc that would provide similar advantages as those of the European Community.

"Given the experience we have seen, we see it as much more of an opportunity than a threat," Heckman said of NAFTA.

Heckman is in Cape Girardeau this week visiting Southeast Missouri State University and speaking to students in the university's business school.

Southeast and Limburg have had a cooperative agreement since 1992 that allows for an exchange of students between the two schools. Limburg is a four-year business school with an enrollment of 1,800.

An expert in international law, Heckman said it's important to have such international exchanges in today's global marketplace.

The European Community is a trading bloc finalized in 1992. It comprises 12 nations: Britain, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Italy, Ireland, Denmark, Spain, Portugal and Greece.

It allows for free movement of goods, people and capital between the member nations.

"There are no customs duties between these countries," explained Heckman. In addition, there's a "common customs' tariff" in place on non-European goods imported to those countries.

Prior to creation of the trading bloc, trucks carrying goods had to go through customs every time they crossed the border into another European country. With creation of the European Community, goods can flow freely between the member nations.

Heckman said the European Community agreement goes further than NAFTA. "NAFTA is only about the free movement of goods," he said.

The European Community agreement involves much more economic integration of its member nations, he said.

It has worked so well, said Heckman, that "we not only want to have an economic union, but a monetary union." Under such an arrangement, he said, there would be one European central bank.