Australia to push China on free-trade pact

The Group of 20 summit to be held in Brisbane in November next year will be the perfect platform for Australia to revive free-trade talks with China that have dragged on since 2005, said an Australian trade official, who cautioned that a deal might not come any time soon.

Tim Nicholls, treasurer and trade minister of Queensland and currently on a two-week trade promotion trip in Asia, said the two countries were unlikely to resolve the major points of difference quickly.

Nicholls has invited local developers, including Kerry Properties and Cheung Kong Infrastructure, to bid for public and private projects during a stopover in Hong Kong as part of his tour.

"[Mainland state-owned enterprises] want to come, and we want to sell agricultural products and other things with as few trade barriers as we can," Nicholls said. "We don't want to be in a business that provides subsidies."

Cattle raisers in Australia have never been more eager for a free-trade pact with China, as drought in the north and protracted talks with Indonesia about lifting a cap on Australian beef mean they need to find new markets for growth.

While Australian beef now enjoys low tariffs in China compared with elsewhere in the region, the country still lags New Zealand, which has a duty-free pact with China. Australia shipped a record 62,000 tonnes of beef to China in May, more than 20 times the figure a year ago.