The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Australia
Media Release
7 June, 1996
THE DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER AND MINISTER FOR TRADE MEDIA RELEASE
DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER TALKS TRADE IN WASHINGTON
During his first official visit to Washington, the Deputy Prime Minister
and Minister for Trade, Tim Fischer, held a productive meeting with US Vice-President
Al Gore. "We discussed a range of issues, but of most significance
was the Vice-President's absolute commitment to take into full account Australia's
interests when applying the United States' agricultural export subsidy programs,"
Mr Fischer said.
Mr Fischer also met with a number of other senior officials in the Administration,
including acting US Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky, Commerce Secretary
Mickey Kantor, and Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman. "As the Prime
Minister John Howard has made clear, the new Australian Government is committed
to strengthening our relationship with the US at all levels," Mr Fischer
said. "This visit has given me the opportunity to establish early
and direct contact with key US decision-makers, to deliver a clear and strong
message about Australia's trade priorities.
"This effort is being paralleled by meetings also being conducted in
Washington by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Alexander Downer, and the
Minister for Industry, Science and Tourism, John Moore. "Increased
focus on the bilateral trade and investment relationship is a core objective
for the Government. A major outcome of my discussions was agreement with
acting USTR Barshefsky to energise our bilateral Trade and Investment Framework
Arrangement (TIFA) process.
"We agreed to another meeting of the TIFA council, which will embrace
a number of bilateral market access issues and include discussions on how
to improve the protection of intellectual property rights.
We will work to advance our shared policy aims regionally and multilaterally
in key areas such as agriculture and telecommunications services. "The
TIFA process will be valuable in maximising the positive elements of the
bilateral economic relationship, for example through a greater co-operation
on the recognition of standards and professional qualifications."I
also made clear in my talks that Australia will not hesitate in vigorously
presenting our concerns with US trade policies and practices. "There
are a number of areas in the relationship where we would like to make progress
- US maintenance of damaging agricultural export subsidies, unilateral bans
on the import of prawns, the extra-territorial application of US law, and
the Jones Act which restricts access to the US maritime sector. I have
firmly registered Australian concerns in these areas and expect to maintain
close contact with my US counterparts in the coming months.
"An important objective of my meetings also has been to stress the
importance we attach to strong US leadership in pursuing global and regional
trade and investment liberalisation."The Singapore WTO Ministerial
meeting and the APEC Ministerial meetings in the Philippines, both scheduled
later this year, present major challenges for our two countries. They
will prepare the way for future multilateral trade negotiations in the WTO
and in achieving concrete regional trade liberalisation under APEC. "In
both these forums, Australia and the US have an excellent record of co-operation,
which I am determined to continue and intensify.
"We want to work with the US to ensure that the significant results
from the Uruguay Round are properly implemented and movement is made toward
achieving greater global trade liberalisation."
Mr Fischer added that he attached importance to establishing strong links
with influential players in the US Congress dealing with issues of immediate
significance to Australia, particularly US trade policy toward the Asia-Pacific
region.
He said he had an excellent exchange of views with senior Congressional
representatives, including the Ranking Minority Member of the House Committee
of Agriculture, Mr Kika de la Garza, Chair of the Trade Subcommittee of
the House Ways and Means Committee, Philip Crane, and Chair of the Senate
Finance Committee Senator William Roth.
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