Your Beijing office? Time to start planning

Rudd said  one of the  reasons he was in Beijing was to support the expansion of the Australian bilateral economic relationship in the area of the trade in services, in particular the area of the trade in financial services.

“This is a significant growing market in terms of the size and diversity of China’s pensions and superannuation industry, pensions and superannuation funds, ” Rudd said.

“What I have agreed with the Chinese today is that we will be establishing a ministerial services round table and its first priority will be the trade in financial services and that will get under way very soon.,” he  added.

“This is an important step forward for us, because we want to rapidly grow the services trade between our two countries, particularly in the area of financial services, particularly in what we have to offer in the funds management industry,” Rudd said.

He said, too, that  progress had  been made, in talks aimed at establishing a free trade agreement between Australia and China.

“…we have today agreed to unfreeze what has been the frozen bilateral negotiations for a free trade agreement between Australia and China,” Rudd said.

” And this is important for both of us.

“We are both committed to ensuring that this is a broadly based, comprehensive and substantive free trade agreement.”

Rudd said his  Trade Minister Simon Crean will be  in Beijing ” within the month.”

“… and the object of that meeting will be to identify clearly with his Chinese counterparts, a list of remaining obstacles to be cleared in this bilateral free trade negotiation,” he said.