On Thursday 31 August, EU Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis spoke remotely with Australian Trade Minister Don Farrell. The latter’s visit to Brussels in July failed to conclude negotiations on the EU-Australia free trade agreement (see EUROPE B13220A29).
While the exchange on 31 August was “very useful”, in the words of Mr Dombrovskis, it did not resolve the outstanding issues or set a date for the next meeting. “We agreed to intensify discussions to conclude the Free Trade...