Free Trade Agreement With ASEAN Countries Announced

Late yesterday (28 August 2008), the Australian Minister for Trade announced that Australia and New Zealand had concluded negotiations for a free trade agreement with the ASEAN nations (to be known as the AANZFTA).

The full text of the AANZFTA has yet to be released. However, according to press releases from the Minister for Trade, the following highlights have been announced:

• The parties to the AANZFTA comprise the 10 ASEAN members (Burma, Brunei, Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, The Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam) together with Australia and New Zealand.

• The AANZFTA will include trade in goods and services together with investment, intellectual property, competition policy and economic co-operation which reportedly makes it the most comprehensive FTA which ASEAN has negotiated. In relation to economic co-operation, the AANZFTA refers