2015年CRI 中澳两国庆祝签订具有里程碑意义的自由贸易协定（在线收听）

中澳两国庆祝签订具有里程碑意义的自由贸易协定

China, Australia Celebrate Landmark FTA

The deal has been signed at a ceremony in Canberra, capping off a decade of negotiations.

Chinese Commerce Minister Gao Hucheng says the free trade agreement is a landmark achievement.

"The China-Australia FTA is or has attained its goal of being a comprehensive, high-quality and balanced agreement. It has the highest degree of liberalization amongst all the FTAs that China has so far signed with another economy. This signing is going to provide us with a more open, convenient and regulated institutional arrangement for our trade and investment exchanges going forward."

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott also oversaw the signing in Canberra this Wednesday.

"What you have collectively done is history making for both our countries. It will change our countries for the better, it will change our region for the better, it will change our world for the better."

One of the highlights of the deal includes Australia opening up its services sector using a negative-list approach, which lists sectors that won't be open to investment, rather than areas that are open.

The Chinese side is also opening up its service sector as part of the new FTA, but will be using the positive-list approach.

Professor Tu Xinquan with the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing says the use of the traditional positive-list makes sense for China at this point.

"China is still a developing country. During the negotiations, we decided we only wanted to open our services sector in a positive-list approach, listing the sectors we intend to open up. This will better control the degree of opening up. It also makes it easier to regulate."

As part of the deal, tariffs are going to be lifted on 95-percent of Australian exports to China.

It will also make it easier for Chinese businesses to invest in Australia.

Mei Xinyu, a researcher with China's Ministry of Commerce, says a number of different Chinese sectors are going to benefit from this.

"I believe this will allow for good opportunities in the tourism industry in Australia. Last year, a privately-run company from the province of Shanxi purchased a local hotel in Australia, which makes good financial sense for both sides. On top of this, areas such as agricultural development, including farming, animal husbandry, forestry and aquaculture will also benefit. Chinese companies will even be allowed to invest in mineral resource development for primary products, provided they have enough capital."

The deal will also allow for more Chinese nationals to travel to Australia on working holidays.

It's expected the Australian side will benefit from cheaper electronics and home appliances.

China is Australia's largest trading partner, with the two-way trade between the two sides hitting 130-billion US dollars last year.

For CRI, I am Xie Cheng.