ASEAN, Australia and New Zealand Trade Negotiators Meet in Hobart

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Trade, Mark Vaile, will welcome the start of the latest round of ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement negotiations in Hobart tomorrow (26 September).

Over 180 delegates from the ASEAN countries, New Zealand and Australia will attend the negotiations from 26-29 September 2006.

"ASEAN is a large and growing market and a key economic partner for Australia," Mr Vaile said.

Australia's two-way trade in goods and services with ASEAN was $55 billion in 2005 - around 15 per cent of our total trade.

ASEAN is a market of at least 550 million people, third in the world after China and India. It has a combined GDP of over US$800 billion - second only to China in emerging Asia.

"At a time when the Doha Round is struggling it's particularly important for us to pursue trade liberalisation by other means to help our exporters and businesses," Mr Vaile said.

"A high quality, comprehensive agreement will promote greater two-way investment and trade with ASEAN. It will both complement Australia's existing FTAs with ASEAN members and boost efforts for broader global trade reform at a difficult time for the multilateral system," he said.

"I'm the first to admit these negotiations are a tough task. Twelve countries, 12 sets of interests, and widely different levels of economic development - that's tough.

But it's worth the effort. I have strong hopes we can deliver a credible agreement with commercially meaningful outcomes - particularly market access outcomes - for Australian businesses.

And I'm satisfied with the progress of the negotiations so far. Much work still remains to be done to reach a solid, comprehensive free trade agreement in 2007. I am looking to these discussions in Hobart to progress the negotiations, as I agreed with ASEAN ministers last month.

We need to intensify negotiations and address difficult issues to conclude this agreement," Mr Vaile said.

ASEAN members include Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Burma and Brunei Darussalam.

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