Seize historic chance in China-Australia FTA

On June 17, 2015, the much-anticipated China-Australia Free Trade Agreement was formally signed in Canberra, Australia. It is a significant event in China-Australia relations. Chinese and Australian leaders were fully committed to the FTA negotiations. President Xi Jinping reached an important consensus with his Australian counterpart on speeding up the negotiations and signing the FTA agreement at an early date. Premier Li Keqiang personally pushed the negotiation process forward.

As Chinese and Australian leaders pointed out in their congratulatory messages, China-Australia Free Trade Agreement, once signed, will provide a higher platform and stronger institutional safeguards for closer, complementary and win-win cooperation. It will help promote the economic integration process in the Asia-Pacific region as well as deeper integration and common development of the Asia-Pacific economies.

China-Australia Free Trade Agreement is one of the most progressive FTAs in trade and investment liberalization either has ever signed. China and Australia have made high-level commitments to each other on trade in goods, trade in services, investment and rules, meeting the objective proposed by Chinese and Australian leaders for a comprehensive and high-standard agreement with balanced interests.