Media release
Australian Minister for Trade, Mark Vaile
Thursday, 25 May, 2000
MVT57/2000
Australia Welcomes US-China Trade Vote
Trade Minister, Mark Vaile, has welcomed the vote in Washington overnight granting China permanent normal trade relations (PNTR) with the US as a huge boost for Australia and the international trade system.
"The US House of Representatives vote was always going to be the biggest hurdle in getting Congressional approval for China PNTR. The 237-197 vote shows that there is strong support in the US for normalising trade relations with China.
"Importantly for Australia, this will now open the way for China to join the World Trade Organisation once the remaining negotiations are concluded".
Mr Vaile was speaking on return from his trip to China earlier this week where he successfully signed Australia's bilateral agreement with China on the market access aspects of WTO membership.
"China's WTO membership will open significant new trade opportunities for Australian exporters. The bilateral deal with Australia covers more than 1000 product categories across key agricultural and manufacturing exports, as well as a major services sectors such as banking and insurance."
"The vote in Washington has brought these market access gains for Australia a huge step closer", Mr Vaile said. "The House of Representatives vote was a significant step in clearing the path for China's accession to the WTO and while the vote still has to be taken in the Senate, the current expectation is that they will follow the Reps lead and also vote in China's favour".
"Australia has consistently supported China's membership of the WTO. There are still a number of important issues to be sorted out in multilateral negotiations in Geneva and Australia will now be working to have these resolved quickly so China can join the WTO at the earliest opportunity", Mr Vaile said.
"The global momentum that has built up in support of China's
accession should now be focussed on launching a new WTO round
of trade negotiations as soon as possible. The APEC Trade Ministers'
Meeting which I will be hosting in Darwin in two weeks time, will
provide another important opportunity to continue building momentum
for the launch of a round".