Arthur Sinodinos (NSW, Liberal Party, Cabinet Secretary) Share this | Hansard source

I can report that the trade minister can walk and chew gum at the same time. While pursuing our trade relations with Indonesia, he has also been moving quickly to negotiate a trade agreement with the United Kingdom post Brexit. I can report that the foreign minister and the trade minister were both recently in Brussels and they were very warmly embraced by the European Union as well as their UK counterparts. There is now something of a competition between the EU and the UK to see who can sign Australia up to a free trade agreement the fastest. Another key area is trade in services negotiations. The trade in services negotiations cover 23 parties representing 50 nations, up from the original 16 nations. This is a global agreement that will have an innovative approach to the liberalisation of the global services trade. This is very important for Australia. We are now a services based economy— (Time expired)