China, Australia to hasten FTA talks

China and Australia yesterday voiced hopes of hastening negotiations on a Free Trade Agreement and striking a deal as soon as possible.

Meeting with visiting Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott and entrepreneurs in Beijing, Chinese Vice Premier Wang Yang said economic and trade cooperation between the countries is now on the fast track.

“It is a common aspiration of businessmen from both countries and also an important consensus reached by leaders of the two countries to speed up the FTA negotiations,” Wang said.

The role of the government, Wang said, is to “build roads and bridges” for enterprises and provide them with convenient, safe and efficient services.

Wang called on both governments to show flexibility in negotiations to make tangible progress at an early date.

Abbott said development of economic and trade relations between Australia and China had moved rapidly in recent years and he expected an FTA deal at the earliest possible opportunity.

Initiated in 2005, talks between Australia and China on the FTA have gone through 19 rounds. If a deal is signed, it would be the first FTA between China and a major developed economy, giving Australian agricultural produce easier access to the Chinese market.

China is Australia’s largest trade partner and export market, while Australia is Chinese enterprises’ largest overseas investment destination country.

According to China’s Ministry of Commerce, bilateral trade reached US$136.4 billion in 2013, up 11.5 percent on 2012.

With different natural resources and development histories, the Chinese and Australian economies are highly complementary, said Wang.

So long as the two sides open up their markets to one another, extend cooperation channels and innovate cooperation, China and Australia can make “the cake of mutual benefit” much bigger.

Abbott said Australia would like to be a long-term, stable provider of energy, resources and food to China.