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.
TYPHOON: The storm’s path indicates a high possibility of Krathon making landfall in Pingtung County, depending on when the storm turns north, the CWA said Typhoon Krathon is strengthening and is more likely to make landfall in Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said in a forecast released yesterday afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the CWA’s updated sea warning for Krathon showed that the storm was about 430km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point. It was moving in west-northwest at 9kph, with maximum sustained winds of 119kph and gusts of up to 155kph, CWA data showed. Krathon is expected to move further west before turning north tomorrow, CWA forecaster Wu Wan-hua (伍婉華) said. The CWA’s latest forecast and other countries’ projections of the storm’s path indicate a higher
SLOW-MOVING STORM: The typhoon has started moving north, but at a very slow pace, adding uncertainty to the extent of its impact on the nation Work and classes have been canceled across the nation today because of Typhoon Krathon, with residents in the south advised to brace for winds that could reach force 17 on the Beaufort scale as the Central Weather Administration (CWA) forecast that the storm would make landfall there. Force 17 wind with speeds of 56.1 to 61.2 meters per second, the highest number on the Beaufort scale, rarely occur and could cause serious damage. Krathon could be the second typhoon to land in southwestern Taiwan, following typhoon Elsie in 1996, CWA records showed. As of 8pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 180km
TYPHOON DAY: Taitung, Pingtung, Tainan, Chiayi, Hualien and Kaohsiung canceled work and classes today. The storm is to start moving north this afternoon The outer rim of Typhoon Krathon made landfall in Taitung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春半島) at about noon yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, adding that the eye of the storm was expected to hit land tomorrow. The CWA at 2:30pm yesterday issued a land alert for Krathon after issuing a sea alert on Sunday. It also expanded the scope of the sea alert to include waters north of Taiwan Strait, in addition to its south, from the Bashi Channel to the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島). As of 6pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 160km south of
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) is set to issue sea and land warnings for Tropical Storm Krathon as projections showed that the tropical storm could strengthen into a typhoon as it approaches Taiwan proper, the CWA said yesterday. The sea warning is scheduled to take effect this morning and the land warning this evening, it said. The storm formed yesterday morning and in the evening reached a point 620 nautical miles (1,148km) southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, moving west-southwest at 4 kph as it strengthened, the CWA said. Its radius measured between 220km and 250km, it added. Krathon is projected
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