Commerce Minister holds talks with Australian counterpart

China and Australia should work together to inject more positivity into bilateral economic and trade cooperation, China's Commerce Minister said.

During his meeting with Australian Trade and Tourism Minister Don Farrell via video on Monday, Wang Wentao, China's commerce minister, said China's continued opening-up will bring more opportunities for countries around the world, including Australia.

This meeting is an important step for both sides to get bilateral economic and trade relations back on track, Wang said.

The two sides had a professional, pragmatic and frank exchange on implementing the key consensus reached in talks between leaders of China and Australia in Bali, Indonesia in November 2022, properly addressing each other's key economic and trade concerns and planning the development of bilateral economic and trade ties in the next phase, a statement from the ministry said.

Wang reaffirmed China is willing to restart economic and trade exchange mechanisms with Australia, expand cooperation in emerging areas such as climate change and new energy, as well as promote high-quality growth of economic and trade relations between the two countries.

China is highly concerned about Australia's tightened security review of Chinese companies' investment and operation in the country and hopes the Australian side will properly handle the cases and provide Chinese businesses with a fair, open and non-discriminatory business environment, he said.