On May 12, Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao and the visiting Australian Trade Minister Don Farrell co-chaired the 16th China-Australia Joint Ministerial Economic Commission in Beijing. The two sides had frank, professional and comprehensive exchanges on implementing the important consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries in Bali, steadily developing bilateral economic and trade relations, properly handling each other's concerns on economic and trade, and expanding pragmatic cooperation.

Wang Wentao pointed out that the economies of China and Australia are highly complementary and the economic and trade cooperation has yielded fruitful results. It is of symbolic significance for the Joint Commission to resume after six years. The two sides should continue to implement the important consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries, focus on the long-term development of China-Australia economic and trade relations, seek common ground while reserving differences, expand common interests, resolve each other’s concerns on the basis of equality and mutual benefit, and bring pragmatic cooperation between the two sides to a new level.

Wang Wentao said that the the 20th CPC National Congress proposed that China would accelerate the building of a new development paradigm that promotes high-standard opening up, which would bring new opportunities to all countries in the world, including Australia. China stands ready to work with Australia to jointly expand more areas of cooperation, hoping that Australia can provide a good business environment and treat China enterprises and products fairly.

Farrell said that Australia-China economic and trade relations are strong, and the FTA between the two countries has promoted the sustained growth of bilateral economic cooperation and trade and made positive contribution to Australia's economic prosperity and people's well-being. The two sides have recently made substantial progress in promoting bilateral economic and trade relations and properly handling each other's major concerns on economic and trade. The resumption of the Joint Commission sends an important signal that Australia-China relations are improving, and also signals the stable development of bilateral economic cooperation and trade. It is hoped that the two sides will strengthen communication and work for more positive results. Australia is ready to continue to strengthen cooperation with China in multilateral and regional platforms, such as the World Trade Organization and Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation.

The two sides agreed to restart the economic and trade dialogue mechanisms such as the Joint Committee on Free Trade Agreement and the high-level dialogue on trade remedies, strengthen cooperation on green and low-carbon development and the construction of infrastructure for the Olympics, promote economic and trade matchmaking between provinces and states, and support businesses of the two countries to cooperate on digital trade and e-commerce.

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