Maria Vamvakinou (Calwell, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Trade. Will the minister inform the House about his recent ASEAN meetings in Bangkok and how the outcomes will assist Australian exporters in recovering from the global recession?

Simon Crean (Hotham, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Trade) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

That is very interesting after the last question, but I am happy to answer the member’s question. Just to put this into context, what we are dealing with is that Australia is one of the fastest-growing developed countries in the world and is dealing with a region that is the fastest-growing region in the world. So, therefore, the meeting in Bangkok over the weekend had for us three important objectives, all of which were achieved. The first was to ensure that we concluded arrangements such that the Australia-ASEAN-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement could come into effect from 1 January next year. The significance of this, of course, is that this is a market of 600 million people. There is already $80 billion in two-way trade between Australia and the ASEAN countries, and it opens up huge new market opportunities for a growth economy—a competitive economy—in a fast-growing region. I am pleased to say that I believe that we will be in a position in which this agreement will come into effect on 1 January next year.

The second objective was not just to involve ourselves in the negotiations surrounding our FTA but to look at the consequences of four other FTAs that had been concluded with ASEAN—one by China, one by Korea, one by Japan and one by India. It is very interesting that the previous member’s question seemed to think that, somehow, trading and taking cheaper product from China and using our comparative advantage to add value here to increase trade and job opportunities was somehow bad. I make this point: the second issue that we were discussing is how we could take those six free trade agreements that ASEAN has negotiated and develop a convergence so that we could take even better advantage of the opportunities in the region. Think about it: if you add the six to the ASEAN countries, you are talking three billion people and collective GDP of $16½ trillion. Again, we were successful in reaching agreement to find the convergence and the greater integration of the region—the second successful outcome.

The third successful outcome was to engage with India, which has undertaken to convene a ministerial meeting in early September to advance further the prospects of concluding the Doha Round. The reason for that meeting is significant. Members might recall that one of the countries with which we were having difficulty concluding the WTO last year was India. The fact is that it is now committed to developing a mechanism and convening a meeting to find the way forward in advance of the Pittsburgh G20 summit, which itself understands the importance of liberalising trade and concluding the Doha Round. That, too, was a significant mechanism. I am happy to report that we are continuing progress in terms of developing trade liberalisation in the region, and I will be happy to report further progress as this government continues to develop this proactive agenda.