Australia, China Share FTA Ambition

Recent positive comments by the Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on the negotiations for a free trade agreement (FTA) with Australia have been welcomed by the Australian Trade and Investment Minister Andrew Robb, who visited Beijing in November last year.

In his speech to the annual meeting of the National People's Congress on March 5, Li said that China would be looking to "accelerate" the progress of FTA talks with Australia, while also pushing for an agreement with South Korea. He did not, however, provide an indication of when the agreements might be signed.

In reply, during a media interview, Robb commented that Li's speech is "a very encouraging signal. It could mean many billions of dollars of increased sales, exports. It could mean a greater, a closer investment relationship."

While the Abbott Government's original target was to complete the talks by September, Robb now sees "no reason that we can't conclude this satisfactorily within this year."

As he said, even though the much-delayed FTA has been under discussion since 2005, Australia still has "a few stages to work through on the China deal."

 Source:  Tax News