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Trade Agreements come into force
On 1 January 2005 new trade agreements between Australia
and two of its APEC trading partners came into effect. Several other FTAs
involving Australia are under active development and significant progress
is expected during 2005.
The Australian APEC Study Centre will be holding a conference
to discuss issues surrounding a possible FTA with Malaysia on Thursday
10 March. Details will posted shortly.
The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
have information on the following FTAs with Australia
The
Australia-United States Free Agreement (in effect since 1 January
2005)
Thailand-Australia
Free Trade Agreement (TAFTA) (in effect since 1 January 2005)
The
Australia - ASEAN - New Zealand Free Trade Agreement (under negotiation)
Australia-China
FTA (under negotitation)
Australia-Malaysia
FTA - (scoping study)
November 2004
News from the APEC Summit in Chile
The APEC Leaders Summit in Santiago has concluded. The
leaders have as usual issued a declaration which summarises the Work of
APEC over the previous year and sets the agenda for the immediate future.
This year a shorter version was also issued and is reproduced below.
Introduction
The twenty-one Economic Leaders of Asia Pacific Economic
Cooperation member
economies have gathered under the theme "One Community, Our Future".
World Trade Organization
We have underlined that the advancement of the Doha Development Agenda
is our first
priority to achieve trade liberalization. Our goals are substantially
greater market access in
agriculture, goods and services, along with the elimination of distortions,
notably the end of
agricultural export subsidies. We committed all our political will to
making substantial
progress in 2005. We support accession of Russia and Viet Nam to the WTO,
as soon as
possible.
RTAs/FTAs
On Regional and Free Trade Agreements, we believe that such arrangements
can make a
positive contribution to the process of trade liberalization. We have
endorsed a set of Best
Practices for convergence of these preferential arrangements. We also
have taken specific
measures to increase public awareness of these agreements.
ABAC
We welcomed the proposals of our ABAC. We have agreed to launch the Santiago
Initiative for Expanded Trade in APEC. This initiative establishes a road
map whereby
APEC will take concrete steps to achieve its objectives of free trade
and investment in the
Asia Pacific. We have invited our business community to be an integral
part of this
initiative. We have instructed our Ministers to study how to carry out
further trade
liberalization, pursuant to the Goals set in Bogor.
Human Security
We recalled the tragic consequences of recent terrorist attacks. We encouraged
relevant
economies to take measurable steps towards the ratification of all basic
universal
antiterrorist conventions. We welcomed actions adopted in the field of
Trade and Security.
Corruption
We endorsed the Santiago Commitment to Fight Corruption and Ensure Transparency.
This Commitment includes an APEC Course of Action to fight corruption.
Implementation
of this initiative will be undertaken between now and our meeting in Seoul
next year.
Structural Reform
We reaffirmed our political commitment to promote structural reform in
our region,
including improvements in the functioning of markets. We have approved
the Agenda to
Implement Structural Reform, known as LAISR.
Economic and Technical Cooperation
We agreed on the need to deepen capacity building initiatives through
public/private
partnership. We welcomed special efforts in education, including in the
use of information
technology and in the promotion of English as business tool of special
interest to micro,
small and medium enterprises, youth and women.
Sustainable Development
To ensure sustainable development is enjoyed by our future generations,
we instructed
Officials to advance an APEC Sustainable Development Strategy and to report
back to us
in 2005.
The
full declaration is available from the APEC Secretariat website
The official website of the APEC host for 2004 is at http://www.apec2004.cl/
This site contains all of the arrangements for the Meetings throughout
the year
July 2004
Thai Australia Free Trade Agreement
Signed
The Australian and Thai governments have signed a free trade agreement
which will see a large proportion of trade between the two economies completely
free by the end of the decade. TAFTA includes measures to Liberalised
trade in goods and services as well as investment and thus will allow
closer economic integration between the two economies. For comprehensive
details of the agreement including the full text, economic reports and
guides see DFAT's TAFTA
page
Stocktake of Progress in Telecommunications
Liberalisation
The APEC Study Centre, in conjunction with the Taiwan Institute for Economic
Research, has recently completed a research report A Stocktake of Progress
Towards the Elements of a Fully Liberalised Telecommunications Sector
in the APEC Region. The report is an outcome of a project initiated by
the Telecommunication and Information Working Group (TEL) and funded by
the APEC Secretariat. Full
text
Australia-China Free Trade Agreement Feasibility Study
Strengthening and deepening trade and economic relations
with China is a major priority for the Australian Government. China is
now Australia's third largest trading partner, with two-way trade exceeding
A$23 billion in 2003. The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and
Trade is conducting a feasibility study on the development of an FTA with
Australia, due to report by October 2005.
Details
Chile is host of APEC in 2004
The rotation of of the chairmanship of APEC sees
Chile as the host for 2004. Under the main theme “One Community,
our Future”, the topics Chile has identified as priorities for 2004
are: APEC as a catalyst in the multilateral trade system; institutionalization
of FTA’s and free trade regional agreements in APEC; trade facilitation
focused on trade and security; the use of English as a working language
for business; the development of micro enterprises; and international
financial architecture. APEC
2004 Chile website
APEC Study Centres Consortium to meet
in May 2004
The annual meeting of the consortium is being jointly organised by the
Chilean APEC Study Center-Chile Pacific Foundation, PECC (Pacific Economic
Cooperation Council) Trade Forum and LAEBA (Latin America/Caribbean and
Asia/Pacific Economics and Business Association). It will be held in Vina
del Mar, Chile on Wednesday May 26 (p.m.) - Saturday May 29 (a.m.) 2004.
Information is available from http://www.funpacifico.cl/study_center.htm
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