ROBB PURSUING FREER TRADE IN ASIA PACIFIC

Trade and Investment Minister Andrew Robb will be in Kuala Lumpur tomorrow (Monday) for negotiations on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement.

The meeting will bring together 16 important regional partners of Australia, including nine of our top 12 trading partners. RCEP countries account for around 60 per cent of Australia’s two-way trade – 72 per cent of our exports and 17 per cent of two-way investment in 2014.

Mr Robb said RCEP countries are at the engine room of global growth accounting for 30 per cent of global output and 47 per cent of economic growth.

“More seamless trade across the region will make it easier for Australian businesses to provide the goods, services and investment increasingly demanded by the rising middle classes of the Asia Pacific,” he said.

Mr Robb will use the meeting to work with ministerial counterparts to make the necessary decisions on key threshold issues to enable further progress to be made in the negotiations.

“RCEP would improve participation in critical global value chains, offer Australian businesses new commercial opportunities and assist our efforts to attract important new investment,” he said.

Once concluded, RCEP would be key piece of regional economic architecture and provide a pathway towards the ultimate objective of a Free Trade Agreement of the Asia Pacific.