Australia, China To Resume FTA Negotiations In February

by Mary Swire, Tax-News.com, Hong Kong

19 November 2009

Bilateral discussions on a free trade agreement (FTA) between China and Australia are due to recommence in February 2010. The last round of negotiations, before they were suspended, was in December 2008.

Australia’s Trade Minister, Simon Crean, announced the resumption of talks following the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meetings this month in Singapore. In an ABC2 interview, he explained the move on a “realization by both economies that this is a deal that should be struck, a realization that we've got to get over the sensitive difficulties.”

He said that there is a “commitment to move to the next round because they, the Chinese, are prepared to talk on the sensitive issues that they weren't prepared to talk seriously about before.” Those issues were said to be agriculture and services, as well as investment where there needed to be a “two-way flow between the two economies.”

He reflected on the importance to both China and Australia of concluding an FTA, given that China had gone back to being Australia’s largest trading partner. While there had to be an agreement with regard to agriculture – and he pointed to the existing New Zealand-China FTA as a yardstick in that respect – he also pointed to the possibilities within an FTA for Australian manufacturing. On the other side, China would also be looking for greater freedom to invest in Australia’s natural resources, especially coal and iron ore, and thereby secure supplies for its economy.

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