AUSTRALIA & SOUTH KOREA TALK TRADE: Trade Ministers Farrell and Cheong met in Perth this week for a 6th Korea-Australia FTA Joint Committee Meeting. It was the first in-person committee meeting since 2019. Since the FTA began in 2014 trade between the two economies has grown from $33b to $71b.
CHINA LIFTS TAIWANESE FRUIT BAN: The Ministry of Agriculture in Taipei has announced China has lifted its ban on pomelo fruit imports from the island economy. The ban was introduced in August 2022. Its lifting of the import ban comes two weeks before a Mid-Autumn Festival when the fruit is widely eaten.
NEW ZEALAND & MALAYSIA TO SCOPE FTA UPDATE: Prime Ministers Luxon and Ibrahim met in Kuala Lumpur this week and tasked their officials with conducting a scoping exercise prior to launching a review of the Malaysia-NZ FTA. The exercise will seek to identify new areas and gaps which could be addressed.
PACIFIC ISLANDS PARTICIPATE IN DIGITAL WORKSHOP: The PACER Plus Trade Implementation Unit and Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade have this week to delivered a Pacific Regional Digital Trade Workshop. It was held in Fiji. Sixty per cent of exports in the Pacific are linked to the services sector.
AUSTRALIA TO PROMOTE CRITICAL MINERALS: Australia has launched a new digital Australian Critical Minerals Prospectus. The prospectus includes more than 55 investment-ready projects. Trade Minister Farrell said Australia was ready and willing to meet the growing global demand for critical minerals.
INDIA LAUNCHES WHISKY EXPORTS TO UK: India’s Agricultural and Processed Food Export Authority is targeting annual export sales of $US1 billion in alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages. An early participant in the “Make in India” export promotion will be shipments of Godawan single malt whisky to the UK.
SINGAPORE & MALAYSIA ADVANCE ECONOMIC ZONE: Singaporean and Malaysian officials met in Johor last week in a bid to further negotiations for a Johor-Singapore Special Economic Zone. The two economies hope to have a bilateral agreement signed at a forthcoming 11th Malaysia-Singapore Leaders’ Retreat.
TIMOR-LESTE FORMALLY JOINS WTO: Timor-Leste has formally become a member of the World Trade Organization. It is the 166th member of the Geneva-based global trade body and follows seven-and-a-half years of negotiation. Timor-Leste has also formally accepted the WTO Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies.
NEW ZEALAND & SOUTH KOREA TO EXPLORE FTA UPGRADE: New Zealand and South Korea have agreed to explore the possibility of upgrading their bilateral free trade agreement. It follows a visit to Seoul this week by Prime Minister Luxon. The free trade agreement was signed in 2015.
US LAUNCHES DISPUTE ACTION WITH CANADA: The US is initiating dispute consultations under the US Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement in protest at Canada’s recently introduced digital services tax. US Trade Representative Tai said the US opposed unilateral digital taxes that discriminated against US companies.