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China's Xinhua news agency earlier reported that Thursday's
meeting between Australian and Chinese officials had agreed that
trade ministers from the two nations will hold virtual
discussions "in the near future."
No date has been set for the video meeting between Chinese
Commerce Minister Wang Wentao and his Australian counterpart,
Don Farrell.
"Assistant Minister Ayres raised the importance of cooperation
to deliver the outcomes of the World Trade Organization 12th
Ministerial Conference, and the removal of current trade
impediments affecting Australian exports to China in both
countries' interests," a spokeswoman for Ayres said in a
statement.
Trade ministers for the two nations have not met in three years.
Relations between the two countries are improving after years of
strained ties with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and President
Xi Jinping meeting on the sidelines of the G20 summit last
November. However, Australia's Foreign Minister Penny Wong said
on Thursday it was a "step-by-step process".
China put unofficial bans on Australian products from coal to
wine in 2020, after Australia urged an inquiry into the origins
of COVID-19 and put a 5G network ban on telecoms giant Huawei.
Several Chinese companies received permission to resume
purchases of Australian coal in January.
Canberra has two complaints at the World Trade Organisation
against China's tariffs on Australian wine and barley, and is
watching to see if Beijing lifts unofficial trade blockages on
other Australian exports, including lobsters.
Australia's Agriculture Minister Murray Watt said on Friday
there was talk around the industry of approaches from Chinese
buyers but "nothing really solid".
"We've got a long way to go... we haven't received any official
notification that some of those trade bans have been dropped,"
he said in an ABC radio interview.
"If we're starting to see the renewal of that kind of dialogue,
then that's obviously a good thing for our producers," he added.
(Reporting by Kirsty Needham, Brenda Goh, Twinnie Siu and Lewis
Jackson; Editing by Toby Chopra, Sandra Maler and Raju
Gopalakrishnan)
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