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ALI MOORE: After the informal ministerial meeting of trade representatives at Davos, how hopeful are you that 2010 will see an end to the Doha round of trade talks?

SIMON CREAN: It depends on the political will, that’s what we’ve got to engage. It was a good meeting in Davos. The US was not present so it could have been better, but we have this commitment for a stocktaking, if you like, a state of play to be concluded by the end of March. Thereafter there are a number of opportunities for ministerial engagement before the G20. That’s what we’re aiming for, to try to make progress to narrow the gaps to identify the differences so that the G20 that actually called for the conclusion of this can be satisfied that progress not only has been made but that we can conclude it.

ALI MOORE: But how confident are you about the political will in the United States, as you said yourself, the representation at Davos could have been better. In fact, the US trade representative wasn’t there. Instead, he sent a deputy European-based diplomat. Do you think domestic political events have overtaken that commitment that was given at Pittsburgh by Barack Obama to ending of Doha?

SIMON CREAN: Well, the domestic political events were contained in the President’s State of the Union address. His commitment to doubling exports as the path to job creation. You can’t double exports in the United States unless you further liberalise trade, so there’s got to be a very strong incentive on the part of the US to conclude the round.

ALI MOORE: So what do you think went wrong at Davos, why do you think there wasn’t a higher level of representation?

SIMON CREAN: I think that the key issue now is the March meeting and how we progress from there. And of course, President Obama is visiting Australia in advance of that. The opportunity to engage the US is very real and in future prospect.

ALI MOORE: If we can turn to China, Minister, there seems to be, I suppose, growing tensions with a number of China’s trading partners over their currency policy. The argument that China is keeping the Yuan artificially low to make their exports more competitive. You talk to your ministerial colleagues around the region - how real is that tension?

SIMON CREAN: Well, it’s an aspect to it, but that’s a matter for the Chinese government. What we have said is that.., and it’s not really in the mandate of Doha.

ALI MOORE: But beyond Doha, as a Minister in this region, are you aware of and do you agree with it as a source of tension.

SIMON CREAN: I think that there are a number of issues that are the source of the tension, and clearly, the fundamentalism of the tension is the relationship between the US and China. That’s why we’ve created space for them to engage bilaterally within the Doha framework. What we want to happen is for the issues of the rebalancing that is essential between those two countries to occur. It has to occur having regard to the multi-lateral framework, the broader Doha framework, but clearly there has to be some direct talking between the two countries.

ALI MOORE: What about direct talking between Australia and China. Of course, we’re negotiating a free trade agreement – those negotiations have been suspended for about a year and they’re due to restart. Is Australian putting anything new on the table?

SIMON CREAN: I think that we’ve had a major breakthrough since the visit of Vice Premier Li Keqiang last year. I’ve had very good talks with my counterpart towards the end of last year and that’s led to the resumption of the trade talks the next round. Let’s see how they go. I believe it’s in both countries’ interests that we conclude a free trade agreement. And whilst there are always going to be sticking points around agriculture, which I believe we can resolve because we’ve done them with ASEAN, the bigger play in terms of our relationship with China, I think, lies in the services and the investment field. But that’s why we’re going for a comprehensive FTA – agriculture, goods, services, investment. And we will continue to push it.

ALI MOORE: Finally Minister, if I can turn to India, our fastest growing trading partner, albeit off a very low base, how do you see the changes to Australia’s migration rules which were announced yesterday, which will put more emphasis on skills rather than students. How do you see those changes affecting the relationship with India?

SIMON CREAN: Well, no, I think it does put more emphasis on the students and the skills, but in a way that isn’t targeted at India, it’s targeted everywhere, but sends this very clear message, that Australia’s education services are about providing a quality transferable accredited education. They’re not about providing a backdoor to a visa. And that’s a message that we want to send very clearly to all of those countries with whom we have strong export education exchange. And it’s a message that we conveyed directly to India when we had those discussion with them last year.

ALI MOORE: At the same time, Minister, there are representatives of the Indian community who are saying that it could, in fact, fuel further resentment coming as it does at the same time as a number of attacks on Indian students. How do you view the relationship with those twin issues?

SIMON CREAN: I don’t think it’ll fuel any further resentment. I think it’s a clearer statement that what we’re about is providing quality education, not selling visas. As for the attacks on the students, that’s a separate matter which we are seriously grappling with.

ENDS

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