THE BUSINESS OF INTERNATIONAL TRADE
THE BUSINESS OF INTERNATIONAL TRADE
The Department for International Trade (DIT) has published an update on Free Trade Agreement talks between the UK and Australia.
The latest round of negotiations took place between September 21 and October 2, with officials from 12 different UK government departments speaking with their Australian counterparts. The talks also saw both sides share draft chapter texts and papers outlining each country's preferred approach. Describing the talks as a whole, DIT describe them as "productive", and say that "good progress was made towards a comprehensive deal between our two nations".
Detailing specific aspects of the talk, DIT report that discussions "were productive over all chapter areas, including Digital and Telecoms, where there is a shared willingness to go even further than CPTPP and consider more ambitious proposals".
Over the two rounds of talks, 73 sessions have taken place, with an agreement on both sides to further discussions in a third round of negotiations.
DIT explain that both the UK and Australia are "keen to continue the momentum of discussions, and the third negotiating round is expected to take place in November".
Some of the topics in this latest round of discussions included: Anti-Corruption and Transparency, Competition, Digital/e-commerce, The Environment, Financial Services, Trade in Goods, Government Procurement, Intellectual Property, Investment, Labour, Rules of Origin, State-to-State Dispute Settlement, Technical Barriers to Trade and Telecommunications.
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