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China and Australia sign landmark FTA
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CHINA and Australia today officially signed a landmark free trade agreement after a decade of talks that will remove most tariffs between the two countries where bilateral trade is already worth more than US$137 billion.
Signed by Chinese Commerce Minister Gao Hucheng and Australian Trade Minister Andrew Robb in Australian capital Canberra, it is the second free trade agreement that China endorsed within two weeks after its pact with South Korea at the beginning of this month.
The agreement, largely agreed in November of last year during a visit by President Xi Jinping in Australia, covers areas including trade of goods, services and investment.
It will instantly remove tariffs on 85.4 percent of goods traded between the two countries, and will gradually realize total removal of tariffs for Chinese imported goods from Australia, and 97 percent for Chinese exported goods to Australia.
On trade of services, the approach of negative list, which defines only those not allowed, will be used to make such trade more efficient and transparent.
On bilateral investment, the two countries will give each other the treatment of most favored nation, and Australia will lower the threshold of examination on Chinese investment.
"The leaders of our two countries have attached great importance to the signing of this document," said Gao. "It is a milestone in bilateral relations."
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said the agreement will give two nations unprecedented access to each other's markets.
"It will change our country for the better, it will change our region for the better, and it will change our world for the better," Abbott said.
China is Australia's biggest trading partner, purchasing a lot of goods including resources and energy products, as well as agricultural products.
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