Truss visits Japan, Vietnam, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Geneva and Brussels

Australian Government Minister for Trade, Warren Truss, will visit Japan, Vietnam, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates,Geneva and Brussels from 12 to 23 November.

In Japan, Mr Truss will meet with senior representatives of the new Abe Government including Foreign Minister, Mr Taro Aso, and Minister for Economy, Trade and Industry, Mr Akira Amari.

“Japan is our most important strategic partner in the region and it has long been Australia’s largest export market by far,” Mr Truss said.

“I will particularly discuss progress on the Australia-Japan FTA feasibility study, the prospects for reviving the Doha Round and developments in East Asian regional architecture.”

Mr Truss will also be meeting with Australian and Japanese business leaders.

After Japan, Mr Truss will visit Vietnam to attend the 18thjoint APEC Ministerial Meeting from 15-16 November in Hanoi. This meeting provides an invaluable opportunity for discussions among key World Trade Organisation (WTO) members to reiterate the importance of reactivating the Doha Round. Mr Truss will also canvas harmonising measures and best practice to make FTA processes more consistent in the Asia Pacific region.

Mr Truss said he would be using the APEC meeting to press Australia’s view that the Doha Round needs to resume as soon as possible.

“APEC has had a good track record in finding ways to stimulate the WTO round in the past and I will be working to find away forward for the negotiations which were suspended in July,” he said.

Mr Truss will also have bilateral discussions with a number of APEC counterparts including his Vietnamese ministerial counterpart sand the US Trade Representative, Ambassador Susan Schwab.

The Trade Minister will then visit Australia’s two largest trading partners in the Middle East and leading members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) - Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

“In Saudi Arabia, I will co-chair a Joint Ministerial Commission meeting with my Saudi counterpart and in the UAE, I will meet with Ministers and officially open the new premises of the Australian Consulate-General in Dubai which is managed by Austrade.

“In both countries, I will be discussing a possible Australia-GCC FTA,” Mr Truss said.

Mr Truss will then travel to Geneva and Brussels to meet with WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy, EC Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson and EC Agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel to discuss the WTO Doha Round and Australia’s strong interest in the negotiations recommencing as soon as possible.

“I will also be meeting with Cairns Group members in Geneva, as well as other key players, to press the case for an ambitious outcome on agriculture, industrial products and services that would deliver new commercial opportunities to Australian exporters,” Mr Truss said.

Media Inquiries: Minister Truss' office 02 6277 7420 - Departmental Media Liaison 02 6261 1555