The Australian British Chamber of Commerce was delighted with the joint announcement, made last Friday evening UK time, by the UK’s Secretary of State The Rt Hon Liz Truss and Australia’s Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment the Hon Dan Tehan that significant progress was achieved during bilateral Ministerial talks held over Thursday and Friday last week.

Minister Tehan visited the UK for the first time since becoming Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment as part of a multi-leg European trip. He met with his counterpart, Secretary Truss along with the Chief Negotiators Vivien Life (UK) and Elisabeth Bowes (Australia), Australia’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom The Hon George Brandis QC, and other officials.

The outcomes of the meetings has led to additional momentum for the bilateral FTA, which was launched in June last year, with an aim according to the Ministers to have a deal in principle by the time of the G7 meeting in Cornwall in June 2021, with final details to be settled early in the second half of the year. Both Ministers have committed to a “sprint” including a weekly call to look at progress each week in the lead up to June.

The Chamber is keen to ensure that as the negotiations head into this final sprint that your views and the important business outcomes that you would like to see achieved through the FTA are communicated with the respective negotiating teams. As such, we welcome you to forward those to the Chamber at policy@britishchamber.com so that we are able to continue to put these forward.

You can read views from the UK and Australian press on the announcement here; AFR, UK Telegraph