Australian minister to push GCC trade agreement

01/04/2015 23:54 AST

Australia’s Minister for Trade, Andrew Robb, is expected to push the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait on finalising a free-trade agreement (FTA) with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) on a visit to the region later this month.

“We are very keen to put the argument very firmly that negotiations with Australia should be resumed as a priority and that’s the message the minister will carry,” Australian Ambassador to the UAE and Qatar, Pablo Kang, told the media in Dubai on Tuesday.

Talks over a GCC-Australia FTA have been suspended since 2009 when the GCC took the lead on all FTA negotiations on behalf of its six member nations. Along with the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, the GCC includes; Bahrain, Qatar and Oman. Australia had entered FTA negotiations with UAE in 2005 with “80 to 90 per cent” agreed when Shaikha Lubna Al Qasimi was Minister of Foreign Trade.

Robb is leading a business delegation of Australian chief executives to the three GCC countries from April 12 to April 19 as part of the Australian Trade Commissions ‘Australia Unlimited Middle East and North Africa (MENA) 2015’ to promote bilateral trade with the region. Robb will be in Dubai and Abu Dhabi on April 12 and April 13.

Bilateral trade with the region was worth 12 billion Australian dollars (Dh33.9 billion) in 2014 with Australian food exports to the region reaching 36 per cent, while UAE sovereign wealth funds invested A$17 billion in Australia in 2013, Kang said.

But sustained weak oil prices could threaten any movement on the deal with GCC governments concerned of losing further revenue associated with trade tariffs. Brent, the international marker for crude, was trading down 2.58 per cent to $54.84 a barrel on Tuesday afternoon local time. Last June it was trading at $115.71.

Kang said Australia would try to stress the long-term benefits of removing the tariffs but acknowledged there could be concerns within the GCC.

“We generally try and lower tariffs to zero … but that can be a sensitive issue,” he said.

Last year, Australia signed FTAs with China, Japan and South Korea. Kang said the FTA would make the flow of investment into Australia easier, noting that several Australian states are looking to sell-off electricity grids and ports, while also allowing GCC companies to benefit from its FTAs by setting up offices in Australia.

The third edition of the Australian Unlimited programme will promote Australia’s higher education and vocational education, health care, agriculture and sustainable urban development sector.

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