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United Arab Emirates, Australia consider FTA

Australia will start talks with officials from the United Arab Emirates over a prospective free trade arrangement, Trade Minister Mark Vaile said yesterday.

Vaile said Australia wanted to boost its trade ties with the Middle East, which currently takes about A$8 billion (US$4.9 billion) worth of Australian goods and services a year.

He said Australia's trade links with the United Arab Emirates were currently worth about A$2 billion a year with 4,000 Australians living there and 70 companies domiciled there, servicing the Middle East.

"We could see some very, very strong benefits flowing from a prospective free trade arrangement with the United Arab Emirates," Vaile said.

Vaile said there was no indication that Australia's involvement in the US-led on Iraq had negatively impacted on its trade relations in the Middle East.

Australia, a strong US ally, sent 2,000 troops, a fleet of jet fighters and three warships to the Gulf to fight alongside US and British forces.

"So far there has been no evidence of a diminution in [trade] because of the recent security concerns and the conflict in Iraq," Vaile said.

He said a business delegation from Australia would travel to the Middle East later this year in a bid to boost trade ties and to set up diplomatic posts in Kuwait and Iraq. The move to start free trade talks with the United Arab Emirates comes as Australia pursues a string of bilateral trade negotiations alongside its push in the multilateral forum of the WTO to free up world trade.

Australia has a long-standing free trade pact with its trans-Tasman neighbour New Zealand, sealed a free trade deal with Singapore last year, and is in negotiations to set up a free trade arrangement with the US and Thailand.
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