The
full details of the Chinese-Australian Free Trade Agreement are expected to be
released before the end of June.
The ABC reports that the wording of the agreement, which had its negotiations
conclude last November, is being finalised.
Michael Clifton,
Austrade’s Senior Trade Commissioner in china, told ABC’s The Business, “My understanding is that we’re on track towards a signing
of the agreement, in the next six to eight weeks,” he said.
“And we would hope to see entry
into force before year’s end.”
The exact details of the agreement
have been a mystery since the November 17 signing. According to the office of trade minister Andrew Robb, finalisation was likely to be made before June’s end.
At the time of the signing, the federal government said
that “ChAFTA” would see 95 per cent of Australian exports to the People’s Republic eventually be
tariff-free, and wine and dairy to both be tariff-free after four years.
China is Australia’s biggest trading
partner, with two-way trade worth nearly $1600 billion in 2013-2014, according
to the Department of Foreign Affairs.
Australia’s biggest export, by far,
was “iron ores and concentrates”, worth $57 billion. The number one import from
China was clothing, worth $5.1 billion.
Image: https://dfat.gov.au/