Ross Greenwood, host: I think it's true to say that most Australians, except for maybe a brief flight stopover, have little or no direct knowledge of the Middle East, its culture or trade opportunities. Saudi Arabia, for example, the world's biggest oil producer, has a GDP that's similar to Australia's, and we share membership of the G20 group of countries. Yet until the last few days, no Australian Trade Minister had been to Saudi Arabia in almost a decade. Well, our current Trade Minister Don Farrell, has just been there. He's now visiting the world's biggest food trade show, Gulfood, in Dubai, and joins me now. Don Farrell, always good to chat to you. It's a pretty unique opportunity to be able to go to the heart of Saudi Arabia. Do you think we share enough common values that we can actually do trade deals in the future?
Minister for Trade and Tourism, Don Farrell: Great to be with you Ross and nice to talk to you again. Look, I think the opportunities are there for Australia to take. I met with three of the most senior Ministers in the Saudi Government yesterday, and all of them send us the same message, and that is they would like to do more trade with Australia. Unfortunately, our trade with Saudi has been declining. Unlike the rest of the world, last year, Ross, our two‑way trade with the world hit a record figure of $1.3 trillion. We've never, ever done so much trade in the past. But we're not happy to rest on our laurels Ross. We want to do more trade, and we can trade more with Saudi.
I'm here today in the United Arab Emirates. You might recall last year, our trade agreement came into operation with the UAE. It was negotiated in record time. Already, Ross, our beef trade to the United Arab Emirates has doubled. So look, I think there are lots of opportunities in this region. My job as Australia's Trade Minister is to push companies out the door to be more ambitious about their trading relationships. Why is that? Well, because we know that if you're an outward-facing company, your profits are likely to be higher, but more importantly, the wages of your staff are likely to be higher. So I think there are great opportunities.
I'm here today with more than 40 Australian companies who are at Gulfood. We've already done in the first 24 hours, a record amount of trade. And I think the opportunities are here. It's an uncertain world in trade. We have to look for those countries that, like us, believe in free and fair trade, and my job is to open the door. It's one thing to get words on a piece of paper for a free trade agreement, but it’s quite another thing to actually turn that into results and profits and wages for Australian businesses and Australian workers. So that's my job here Ross.
Today I'm meeting my UAE counterpart, Dr Thani. He was the person that we negotiated the agreement with two years ago. It's now fully operational, and I want to see more and more and more companies take that risk, take a bit of a gamble, because I'm sure that if you come to the Middle East, there'll be plenty of opportunities for Australian businesses to grow.
Greenwood: Okay. So I want to jump in and just basically go back to Saudi Arabia, because cultural differences for a long time would have been a barrier to Australian companies wanting to do trade there. Of course, now they're trying to liberalise, there are women inside the government, women are allowed to have their own passports. So there is change that's taken place in Saudi Arabia. The question is whether that change is significant enough to give the confidence to Australian companies to seek that trade in the biggest economy in the Middle East.
Minister Farrell: You're right, Ross, there have been very significant changes in Saudi over the last 10 years, and that's quite a deliberate policy of the current government. They've made it very clear to me that they want to do more business with Australia. So when countries come to you and say, "Look, we want to do more business", I think we should take that opportunity. Riyadh is growing very, very fast, it's a very fast-growing economy. They're a transformational economy. They're moving away from fossil fuels - they're moving into renewables. Which country in the world does best in terms of renewables? It's Australia. So, we should be there helping them make that transition to the renewable future, and in the process, there are so many opportunities for Australian companies.
Greenwood: So, take me to one other aspect of this. This is largely, as you say, seeking trade partners who are willing to be open, and this is partly a response to where the United States has gone with tariffs. Now Australia has gone and sought a free trade agreement with Europe. We've got one with the UK. The one with Europe is still sitting there being negotiated. How close are we to getting that free trade agreement across the line? Because that ultimately would be a big one for Australian farmers, for Australian companies.
Minister Farrell: You're dead right there Ross, and I had hoped that we would have made more progress on the EU free trade agreement. I think in the next month, negotiations will be renewed. We're not far away, to be honest with you Ross, but some of the big issues, particularly the volume of Australian meat into the EU and the conditions surrounding that beef going into Europe, still remain unresolved. They're the big issues.
But to be honest with you, Ross, I am optimistic that with the new Trade Minister in the EU, Mr Šefčovič, he, like me, wants a free trade agreement. Countries that believe in free and fair trade have to actually demonstrate to the rest of the world that there are countries that believe in free and fair trade, and that it is a net benefit to your economy if you engage in that free and fair trade. So, I'm optimistic, but if you want a particular date, I can't tell you that.
Greenwood: No, it's all right.
Minister Farrell: I've made a few predictions over the last two years, and none of them have proved correct.
Greenwood: No, I tell you what ‑‑
Minister Farrell: But I am confident in this new Trade Minister.
Greenwood: Brilliant, that is fantastic. Don Farrell, our Trade Minister, at the largest food trade show in basically the world, Gulfood in Dubai, many thanks for your time.
Minister Farrell: Nice talking to you Ross.