Australia looks to resume FTA talks with GCC

Australia is looking to resume free trade agreement (FTA) talks with the GCC countries and also inviting regional sovereign wealth funds to invest in the country, said Pablo Kang, Australian Ambassador to the UAE and Qatar.

An Australian delegation led by Minister for Trade and Investment Andrew Robb will be visiting the UAE, Kuwait, Qatar and Saudi Arabia from April 11 when he will push the Gulf states to resume FTA negotiations and also invite SWFs controlling $2 trillion (Dh7.34  trillion) assets to invest in his country.

“The Minister for Trade and Investment Andrew Robb who visited at the region last year will be coming again bringing a targeted delegation of CEOs with him. They will be in Dubai and Abu Dhabi on April 12 and then heading to Riyadh, Kuwait and Doha. The primarily purpose of his visit is focused on a free trade agreement negotiations with the Gulf states which were stalled in 2009 when the Gulf states suspended negotiations with all foreign trading partners including us.

“The other reason the minister will be coming will be to meeting a range of sovereign wealth funds across the Gulf states to talk up not just why it’s important to invest in Australia but also some specific projects,” Kang said.

Kang was speaking at the press conference to announce the 3rd edition of Australia Unlimited Mena 2015 programme which will run from April 12 to 19 to promote the bilateral trade, investment and cultural ties.

Last year, Australia signed FTAs with China, Japan and South Korea – its three largest trading partners.

“We are very keen that (FTA) negotiations with Australia should be resumed as a priority; this will be the message the minister will be carrying during his Gulf visit… When the Australian minister visited last year he liked GCC to be the next possible one,” he said, adding that the UAE-Australia FTA talks were initiated in 2005 which resulted in two parties agreeing  up to 85-90 per cent of issues after several rounds of negotiations. Now the country has free trade agreements with 9 out of top 10 trading partners.

He said Australia wants free trade agreement with GCC to be comprehensive, covering all sectors.

The two-way GCC-Australia merchandise trade between the is estimated at about A$12 billion (Dh33.58bn) – the same as the trade Australia does with India.

The UAE is 13th largest inward investor into Australia with investments to the tune of A$17 billion (Dh47.5bn) – mainly driven by sovereign wealth funds – in ports, infrastructure, hotels, agriculture and other sectors.

“There is a considerable amount of sovereign wealth funds-driven investments into Australia. The latest figures that we have of 2013 is that A$17bn of investments were made from UAE to Australia. That’ is underestimated because not necessarily all the investment is on the public record,” Kang noted.

The emirate is also home to more than half of Australian nationals living in the Gulf states. The emirate is the 12th largest overseas host of Australians worldwide. There are approximately 30,000 Aussies living in the GCC with more than 16,000 living in the UAE.

In terms of tourist numbers, more than 300,000 Australians visit the UAE on annual basis. Among those, 270,000 come to Dubai and the rest to Abu Dhabi. But if include the Australians who transit the UAE, the numbers will be well over a million.

About 60,000-70,000 UAE residents visit Australia on the annual basis. While nearly 800 UAE students are enrolled in Australians institutions, Kang revealed.

Commenting on Australia Unlimited, Gerard Seeber, Consul General and Senior Trade Commissioner, said the campaign aligns perfectly with the UAE’s year of innovation.

“This year we will be hosting a trade mission based around two priority sectors - education and training and sustainable urban development. The overall goal is to create a common understanding between the UAE and Australia of our respective visions, challenges and capabilities as well as establish future collaborative paths in the development of innovation-based economies,” he said.

Follow Emirates 24|7 on Google News.