US-Australia
Fta Negotiations Face Being Pushed Back
Asia
Pulse, Thursday October 2, 2003
CANBERRA,
Oct 2 Asia Pulse - Negotiations between Australia and the United States
for a free trade agreement (FTA) could be pushed back to ensure a comprehensive
deal was made, a Senate committee heard today.
Steven
Deady, Australia's lead negotiator for the FTA, said getting the right
agreement was more important than signing off on a deal too quickly.
Australia
and the US had hoped to agree on the FTA by year's end, partly in a
bid to avoid it being caught up in next year's presidential election.
But
initial offers from the US, particularly on agriculture, have so far
fallen short of Australian expectations.
Mr Deady said Australia had already made a secondary request to the
US on agriculture.
He
said although negotiations were going well, there was still some gaps
between the two countries that would take time to overcome.
"The
key driver for Australia is a big deal, is a good outcome from the negotiations,
and the timing is secondary," he told the Foreign Affairs, Trade
and Defence committee.
American
negotiators will head to Canberra for a week of talks starting on October
27.Talks are likely to occur at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation
meeting in Thailand, which starts in a fortnight, and during the visit
of President George W Bush to Australia the following week.
Mr
Deady said an extra week of negotiations would be held in Washington
during the first week of December.
Australian
farmers have already raised concerns about the American offer on agriculture.
Mr Deady said there would be issues such as transition periods for improvements
in agricultural produce access to be negotiated with the US.