China, Australia To Continue FTA Negotiations

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

25 August 2009

Australian Trade Minister Simon Crean has announced that negotiations will continue during next month despite recent tense political disputes between the two countries. Relations have been strained following the arrest of four Rio Tinto employees on espionage charges by Chinese authorities, and Australia’s decision to grant a visa to Rebiya Kadeer, the alleged mastermind of the Urumgi riots in July, which left 200 dead.

Diplomats from both side have underscored that despite the disputes, negotiations towards the conclusion of a free trade pact would continue in order to bring about its swift conclusion.

In the last meeting in December, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd informed that the two countries had “agreed to hasten the conclusion of our Free Trade Agreement while recognising the obstacles which still lie in the path.” Eager to not disclose a date which the parties were aiming at for the conclusion of the accord, he added: “I don’t want to mislead people by giving a completion date, but there is political will on both of our parts to get this thing done.”

Talks on the agreement have progressed substantially recently following China’s decision to concede to Australian calls for the removal of tariffs on agriculture products, which had previously stalled the accord’s progress.

Speaking to the Australian Financial Review, Australian Trade Minister Simon Crean informed that the delegations, which first met in May 2005, would reconvene for the fourteenth round of negotiations in September.

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