politics

Australia eager to conclude FTA with Japan

4 Comments

Australia is eager to conclude a free trade agreement (FTA) with Japan as soon as possible, Australian Trade and Investment Minister Andrew Robb said Monday after meeting Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at his official residence.

Robb is in Tokyo after visiting China and South Korea, kicking off new negotiations with the three most important trade partners in Asia.

The two countries, major trading partners with each other, began negotiating an FTA in April 2007 but talks were stalled in 2011 after the earthquake and tsunami disaster.

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said shortly after his election in September that Australia's longstanding close partnership with Japan was underpinned by shared values and common interests, and to continued regional stability and prosperity.

Abbott has made concluding free trade deals with Japan, China and South Korea a centerpiece of his international diplomatic efforts.

Australia has several bilateral FTA agreements, including with Singapore, Thailand and the United States.

Japan is Australia's second largest trading partner behind China, with A$71 billion ($67 billion) of trade between the countries in 2012.

© Japan Today/AFP

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4 Comments
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The Australian PM, Tony Abbot, is a right wing extremist, who promotes xenophobia and racism. Read the world news in some depth and you will see the pattern. In some ways , he and Abe are very similar. Australia had the chance of being one of the worlds more progressive countries, but not now.

1 ( +5 / -4 )

Abbot is a member of the Liberal Party of Australia which is a centre right political party. Only the left wing radicals would label him a right wing extremist. If anything, Austraila had the chance of catching up with Europe in terms of unmanageable debt if the left were left in power and the people could kiss their jobs goodbye. He and Abe are similar though, and this is a good thing and exactly what Australia needs in the face of massive increase in human trafficking of refugees with questionable statuses arriving on Australian shores under the watch of the left.

The leader of the left was able to communicate in Mandarin, but went to China and made more enemies than friends. His speeches were very quickly censored and the Chinese university students were offended, claiming that he was trying to be more Chinese than the Chinese. Abbot has made very clear that his aim is to strengthen relations with the USA and Japan and personally I support this. Anyone who thinks that Australia was in a better position under Rudd or Gillard has rocks in their head.

-1 ( +3 / -4 )

@AkashiAussie

Because being under the Abbott government is for the greater good of Australia. Let me tell you this, the Abbott gov has already pushed for an increase in Australia's debt to $500b (because apparently instead of the carbon tax, we're are going to need to borrow more money overseas). This is Liberal's way of politics... borrow, borrow and borrow...and spending on pointless politics like the fiber to the node instead of the premises (even though the NBN is still far behind the speeds of South Korea and Japan, at least it's a leap forward in technology).

0 ( +2 / -2 )

I don't think Abbott will turn out to be a very good prime minister of Australia. Basically, he's a bit too simple and the fact that he managed to get elected is scary.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

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