Canberra, 15 March 2005

Australia-United Arab Emirates Joint Ministerial Statement on launch of negotiations on a Free Trade Agreement

The Australian Minister for Trade, the Hon Mark Vaile, MP and the United Arab Emirates Minister for Economy and Planning, H E Sheikha Lubna bint Khalid Al-Qassimi, meeting in Canberra on 15 March 2005, agreed to the launch of negotiations on a bilateral free trade agreement (FTA). Ministers agreed to advance their common interest in the growth of bilateral trade and investment and economic development, and agreed to work towards securing a substantial, comprehensive FTA covering goods, services and investment that would be fully consistent with WTO rules and principles.

Ministers said a high quality FTA would remove or reduce barriers to trade in goods and services between the two countries and would liberalise investment flows, building on work already done on investment protection and promotion. It would also, to the extent possible, address and resolve any bilateral impediments in areas such as industrial and technical standards, sanitary and phytosanitary issues, movement of natural persons, and government procurement. Ministers agreed that progress on these fronts would be important in building a closer economic and commercial relationship to the mutual advantage of both countries.

Ministers emphasised an FTA would benefit all areas of the economic and commercial relationship but said they expected particularly strong outcomes in trade in services. They also expected an FTA could provide Australian business with more access into Middle Eastern markets, and for UAE businesses into Asia-Pacific markets.

The Ministers agreed to work towards concluding a comprehensive and liberalising FTA in 2006 and endorsed a forward work program to maintain the pace of negotiations. They instructed officials to begin exploratory negotiations immediately following the JMC on the modalities and form of the FTA, and the principles that should underpin it.

Contact: Richard Forbes (Vaile's office) 02 6277 7420