Brussels, 16/11/2015 (Agence Europe) - During a meeting of their leaders on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Antalya, Turkey on Sunday 15 November, the EU and Australia committed to commencing work towards the launch of negotiations for a bilateral free trade agreement.
The EU leaders - European Council President Donald Tusk and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker - and Australia's Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull hailed the conclusion last April (see EUROPE 11301) of the new framework agreement to govern bilateral relations between the EU and Australia (as a replacement for the economic partnership agreement of 2008), and they committed to pursuing its “full and swift” implementation.
The joint statement from the EU and Australia says that both parties also agreed to begin preparatory work “as soon as possible” with a view to launching talks for a “comprehensive and balanced” free trade agreement. Based on this preparatory work, which will define the scope of the future agreement and the approach to be followed in the negotiations, both parties will take measures to obtain the authorisation required for launching these free trade negotiations.
The EU is Australia's third biggest trading partner (after China and Japan), and Australia is the EU's 15th biggest trading partner. Their bilateral trade in goods stood at €38.8 billion in 2014 (€29.6 billion in exports for the EU, and €9.2 billion in exports for Australia) and trade in services stood at €27 billion in 2016 (€18.8 billion in exports for the EU and €8.2 billion in exports for Australia). The EU's foreign direct investment (FDI) stock in Australia stood at €122.1 billion in 2013, and that of Australia in the EU was €27.1 billion. (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)