Australia has signed a free trade area deal with the Association of South East Asian Nations and New Zealand in what is Australia's biggest free trade agreement.

Over time tariffs will come down in areas that will assist the Australian beef and dairy industries .. as well as the automotive sector, pharmaceutical's and electrical machinery.

Trade between the nations has been growing at a rate of about 10-percent a year in the past ten years and Australian Trade Minister, Simon Crean, is confident that will continue in spite of the global economic crisis.

Presenter: Karen Percy
Speaker: Simon Crean, Trade Minister, Australia

CREAN: It would mean significantly increased opportunities for trade with the ASEAN group of countries and New Zealand. From Australia's perspective, there is already $80 billion in two way trade with ASEAN. In comparative terms, that is larger than any two way trade we have with a single country, it's bigger than China, it's bigger than Japan, bigger than the US. So this is big market opportunity for us, in what is already our largest group trading partner. What the FTA does is to provide improved market access, that means better opportunities for our exporters, it means increasing job opportunity in Australia.

PERCY: In what sectors in particular will Australia be able to gain better market access in this region?

CREAN: It covers all of the sectors, that's the other good thing about this agreement. It's a comprehensive agreement, it covers goods and it's not just agriculture and food products, it's manufactured products, it's services and it's investment.

PERCY: Who do you think are going to be the main players, I guess, within the ASEAN group? Where do you see the main upside among those ten member nations?

CREAN: I think all of them are going to play an increasingly important role with us, and whilst this agreement itself is a significant breakthrough, because it's the largest FTA Australia has ever signed, it's the most comprehensive that ASEAN has ever signed. But it is a platform for going forward again with our bilateral arrangements.

Already, last week, in Australia, we agreed with Indonesia to move forward on an FTA, to build upon the arrangements that this agreement provides for us with Indonesia. We want to do the same with Malaysia, we want to do it with Vietnam, we want to do it with the Philippines, etc. This is a platform from which to move forward the bilateral arrangements as well.

PERCY: How do you reconcile Australia's position against Burma, with some sanctions and the fact that Burma is a major member of the ASEAN countries and you are now signing a free trade area agreement with ASEAN?

CREAN: Well, we're signing an agreement with ASEAN as a group, ASEAN functions as a group. Yet by far the greatest area of concentration has been with the other nations.

PERCY: But Burma is likely to benefit from this, is it not and how does that sit with the fact that Australia wants to punish the junta leaders?

CREAN: Well, to the extent to which liberalisation and trade flows benefit them, they have to be seen against any other restrictions that may or may be taken in the future. But we have to deal with this from the point of view of the reality of what constitutes ASEAN, despite the difficulties we have with the regime within Burma.

PERCY: Business, trade and human rights can often blend in this part of the world in particular, you see people dislocated when exploration or land development leases are granted, for example, or illegal migrant workers put in factories. What kind of representation does Australia make in the business trade forum on those human rights issues, particularly now as ASEAN is committed to a human rights forum?

CREAN: I think obviously they cannot be ignored, and we make our representations through the appropriate political channels. Now that being said, we seek to use the strength of the economic relationship and the importance of it to in turn strengthen the reputation of our concern on the human rights front. That's the way we did it when we were last in government, the Labor Party was last in government. It's the way we will continue to do it under the Rudd Government's approach now.

PERCY: What is the significance of the discussions you have been having with Vietnam?

CREAN: Well, I think very significant is the fact that we will be reaching agreement with them today to recognise their market economy status. This has important implications so far as WTO dispute mechanism, particularly anti-dumping. But I think it's the broader relationship and the strengthening of that that we are making with Vietnam that is important. We have welcomed a number of their economic liberalisations that have been undertaken. They have indicated an interest in participating in the trans-Pacific partnership initiative for wider liberalisation in the Asia-Pacific. The fact that they have been very strong supporters and active contributors to this agreement is a very welcome sign.