Australia-China FTA Negotiations Reach New Level

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Trade Mark Vaile said the latest round of negotiations on a comprehensive Australia-China Free Trade Agreement will reach a new level with Australia asking China to provide real commercially valuable market access for our exporters.

"China's development is one of the great events of our time with hundreds of millions of people gaining access to a modern way of life. A comprehensive FTA would put Australian exporters at the front of the crowd in the Chinese market," Mr Vaile said.

"Our objective is to obtain commercially-valuable outcomes for Australian industry - given the growth of the trade relationship, there's little point in an agreement that doesn't achieve a real opening of China's markets."

He said that better access for Australia's services exporters to China was crucial.

"For that reason, Australia will insist that services market access negotiations begin, at the very least, by the end of this year. I do not want to see a significant gap between services and goods negotiations. We have always said this must be comprehensive and concluded as a single undertaking," Mr Vaile said.

The sixth round of negotiations on an Australia-China Free Trade Agreement begins in Beijing today and will run until 6 September.

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