Transcript
31 August 2009
Interview with Liam Cochrane - Connect Asia, Radio Australia
SUBJECTS: Japanese election result, Doha mini-ministerial in Delhi, Indian students in Australia.
COMPERE: To discuss the big trade agenda of this week, we're joined on the line by Simon Crean. Mr Crean, welcome to Radio Australia.
SIMON CREAN: Hi, Liam; how are you?
COMPERE: Very well, thank you.
Let's get to India in a moment, but first, Japan has just voted in a new government as we've heard. The Opposition in its campaigning promised to protect farmers. How much of a setback do you think this is going to be to the ongoing free trade talks between Australia and Japan?
SIMON CREAN: I don't think that the election itself is the setback. As you know, we've had difficulty progressing a free trade agreement with Japan essentially because of agriculture. In part, that can be resolved if we conclude the Doha Round and that's another important aspect of the visit to India this week, to try and get momentum into that. But I think that we need to understand the broader relationship with Japan - indeed, as we do with India and we'll come to that in a minute. But Japan has been consistently our largest trading partner now for decades. The importance of the two economies to each other is unquestioned. Apart from the very close associations, governments of all persuasions have had with the LDP, we have also in the past 18 months on all of our visits to Japan, made important contact with their new government.
COMPERE: Could there be perhaps new opportunities for Australia in Japan, given that the amount of government debt means the country will probably be seeking private funding for infrastructure projects?
SIMON CREAN: Look, I think that there is always huge opportunity in a relationship that is already well established. What we've got to do is to get in as quickly as we can with the new government to talk about the opportunities. Like you've just mentioned, infrastructure I think is one but the whole question of energy security, food security, which is the flip side of their support for agriculture. I think that we can find important complementarities in food processing, as well as energy security, as well as infrastructure and logistics.
In part, the difficulty with the Japanese economy is the way in which it has not embraced as much as people have said it should - outside of Japan, of course - structural reform, internal adjustments. And I think it's going to be an interesting question as to how quickly the newer government - or how well the new government raises to that challenge.
COMPERE: Let's move to your trip - your impending trip to India. The Trade Ministers' meeting in Delhi that you'll be attending, obviously, very important. You're a Doha optimist, but there are still those who say that the agreement that the trade talks are doomed. What specifically needs to come out of this meeting in your view?
SIMON CREAN: Well, not just optimism but concrete advance going forward. And indeed, we've had that concrete advance ever since the middle of the year.
Since the Indian elections, which saw an important new mandate for Prime Minister Singh's Government - and he is an economic reformer - ever since the G20 leaders have called for the conclusion of the Doha Round, we have sought the opportunity to open the window again. We did that with the Cairns Group Meeting in Bali in June followed up by an OECD meeting and an APEC meeting. All three of those meetings have given vital political impetus to concluding the round. Interestingly, India turned up at the Bali meeting, their new Commerce Minister within 10 days of being sworn in. And India and the US have both signalled they want to play a constructive role in concluding it.
That is an ingredient we did not have last July. Interestingly, India offered to host this mini ministerial which is taking place in Delhi this week, that's another positive sign. So, look, all the signs are there, Liam, the question is can we ensure that the political will keeps driving forward? That's got to be our objective and if we can get that right, I think we can report significant progress to the Pittsburgh meeting of the G20 in September.
COMPERE: Simon Crean, just finally in the 30 seconds or so we've got remaining, I want to come to the issue of the international education reputation of Australia, especially in India. Obviously, the problems have been widely reported on this station and other media, both in Australia and India. What message are you taking to India about Australia's brand as a destination for international students?
SIMON CREAN: That we want to protect it, we want to secure it and we want to ensure the continued safety of Indian students when they come down here. We do acknowledge that there has been a big problem with this, it has drawn huge great attention which in itself is one of the reasons the Deputy PM is up there.
But it's not just the issue with the safety, Liam, as important as that is. It is about protecting our brand because our brand is quality education. We can't afford to let that be debased and I'm working very closely with Julia [Deputy PM Julia Gillard] to ensure that both the safety and the brand are protected and we convey it in the strongest possible terms that message to our Indian counterparts.
COMPERE: Simon Crean, thanks for your time this morning.
SIMON CREAN: My pleasure, Liam.
[ENDS]
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