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Australia

Regional MPs call for greater transparency of RCEP negotiations
10-Mar-2020 APHR
As ministers of the member countries of the RCEP meet for final negotiations over the trade agreement this week, regional lawmakers today expressed concern about the lack of parliamentary and public oversight of the deal, as well as its potential human rights impacts.
Pacific shouldering burden in unbalanced PACER-Plus Trade Deal
27-Feb-2020 PANG
The Pacific Island Countries (PICs) are taking on disproportionate binding commitments in exchange for false promises of benefits from the regional free trade deal known as PACER-Plus.
PACER-Plus development assistance analysis: No new money but still with strings attached
26-Feb-2020 PANG
What the development assistance arrangement results in, is aid money, tightly controlled by Australia and New Zealand to flow to areas that will make Forum Island Countries uphold their commitments on market access, ultimately benefiting the two metropolitan Parties.
PACER-Plus labour mobility analysis: Unbound promises and an annual meeting
26-Feb-2020 PANG
PACER-Plus itself achieved little by way of actual improvements for Pacific Islander workers to access the labour markets of Australia and New Zealand.
India, Australia agree to consider reviving talks for FTA
25-Feb-2020 Outlook India
India and Australia agreed to consider reviving stalled negotiations on the proposed free trade agreement (FTA)
Australia willing to consider bilateral FTA with India on the lines of RCEP
25-Feb-2020 BusinessLine
Australian Trade Minister leads high-level delegation, holds talk with Indian counterpart Piyush Goyal.
The Peru-Australia free trade agreement: Australia’s gateway into Latin America
24-Feb-2020 Lexology
PAFTA removes barriers to trade in goods between Australia and Peru across various industries and key barriers to services trade.
Modi govt keen on trade pact with Australia as RCEP takes backseat
21-Feb-2020 The Print
New Delhi wants to resume negotiations on the long-pending Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement with Australia, talks for which stalled in 2015.
Will IA-CEPA be the boost to Australia-Indonesia relations leaders are banking on?
18-Feb-2020 Indonesia at Melbourne
The economic importance of IA-CEPA remains to be seen, at least from Indonesia’s side. IA-CEPA would require many changes in Indonesian regulations at the ministerial and local levels, which has been very challenging in the past.
Australian Trade Minister to visit India this month; to push trade, investment ties
14-Feb-2020 BusinessLine
Australian Trade Minister will meet his Indian counterpart, likely to discuss RCEP and long-pending bilateral trade agreement.
Trade deal ignore human rights violations
13-Feb-2020 Star Observer
Indonesia is currently a major perpetrator of human rights abuses against its own minority groups, specifically their LGBTQI community, which makes this partnership questionable in view of Australia’s signature on the UN Human Rights Charter.
Economic diplomacy: Indonesian trade deals and real deals
13-Feb-2020 The Interpreter
Bilateral trade deal sceptics have criticised the Indonesia-Australia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (IA-CEPA) as more of a strategic public relations document than genuine economic reform.
Peru-Australia Free Trade Agreement enters into force
12-Feb-2020 Mirage News
The Australian minerals industry has access to new export markets and investment opportunities with the Peru-Australia Free Trade Agreement (PAFTA) entering into force today.
Indonesia-Australia partnership
10-Feb-2020 The Jakarta Post
The IA-CEPA has been ratified by the legislatures of both countries and is thus strongly based on a national political consensus, allowing for immediate implementation..
Indonesia ratifies Australia trade deal
10-Feb-2020 Yahoo News
The Indonesian parliament has given the green light to a new trade deal with Australia, paving the way for the agreement to be signed in Canberra on Monday.
Australia in first wave of UK trade deals
6-Feb-2020 Newcastle Herald
British Foreign Secretary hopes Australia will be in the first wave of free trade deals his country can secure in the post-Brexit era.
India keen to keep future FTAs with RCEP nations less ambitious
5-Feb-2020 BusinessLine
Countries such as Australia, New Zealand, South Korea and Japan are among the first ones with which India is ready to consider individual agreements to begin with.
Australia eyeing post-Brexit trade agreement by end of the year
31-Jan-2020 Express & Star
Simon Birmingham, Australia’s minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment, said he wanted to see ‘eliminated tariffs, quotas, and trade barriers’.
Economic diplomacy: APEC’s future, digital trade deals, and green debt
30-Jan-2020 The Interpreter
Malaysian PM Mahathir controls the credibility of APEC, and China controls how emerging economies cut carbon emissions.
Australia to intensify engagement, new envoy likely to be India-hand O’Farrell
30-Jan-2020 The Hindu
Australian High Commissioner Harinder Sidhu hope that India will seriously consider returning to the RCEP table.