Australia Urges ASEAN Ministers to Move Forward on FTA Negotiations

At the 11th annual ASEAN Economic Ministers - Closer Economic Relations (ASEAN-CER) meeting in Kuala Lumpur today, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Trade, Mark Vaile, welcomed the commitment expressed by ASEAN, New Zealand and Australia to conclude a high quality, comprehensive Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in 2007.

"All negotiating partners agree that a high quality, comprehensive agreement will promote greater two way investment and trade which is beneficial to all our economies. It will both complement Australia's existing FTAs with individual ASEAN members and boost efforts for broader global trade reform at a difficult time for the multilateral system".

Although pleased with the progress to date of the ASEAN-ANZ FTA negotiations, Mr Vaile said that there was still much work to be done if negotiations were to be completed in 2007.

"I have urged my counterparts to intensify negotiations and show the flexibility required to conclude this agreement. Some of the issues are not easy, but with the express commitment of all negotiating parties a solid agreement can be reached".

Mr Vaile also took the opportunity to urge ASEAN ministers and other WTO members attending the meeting to continue working to overcome their differences in the current round of global trade talks.

"This is a make or break time for the Doha negotiations and we need to act quickly given the small window of opportunity we now have left to get these negotiations back on track, " Mr Vaile said.

The ten countries of ASEAN taken as a single group are a larger trading partner for Australia than Japan, the US or China.

Contact: Mr Vaile's Office 02 6277 7420, Departmental 02 6261 1555