Crean Pushes For Australia-Japan FTA

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

07 June 2010

After attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Trade Ministers' Meeting in Japan, Australia’s Trade Minister, Simon Crean, indicated that further meetings to advance key bilateral trade objectives, including the proposed Australia-Japan free trade agreement (FTA), will be held.

At the APEC meeting he joined a push for progress on the Doha Round negotiations. "Making real progress on Doha would be the best way to raise business confidence and accelerate the global recovery," he said.

However, he also recognized that Japan is crucial to the Australian economy with two-way trade worth more than AUD59bn (USD48.5bn) per year, and total Japanese investment in the Australian economy of nearly AUD90bn.

Negotiations on a comprehensive Australia-Japan FTA commenced in April 2007 following the conclusion of a joint government feasibility study. An eleventh round of negotiations was held in Canberra in April this year, with steady progress made in many areas.

After the APEC meeting, during an interview, Crean confirmed that the new Japanese government remains “very strongly supportive of concluding a free trade agreement with Australia”.

However, there was no indication from him on when the FTA would be completed. The 12th round of bilateral negotiations is due to take place in Tokyo in September 2010.

In Tokyo, Crean talked to the Australia-Japan FTA Symposium and an Austrade-organized forum on Australia's financial services sector. "Australia's expertise in areas such as superannuation management and public-private partnerships provides opportunities for greater trade and investment between Australia and Japan," he said.

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