00:00Trade and finance ministers from all across the globe are huddling in Paris today for the OECD's annual ministerial.
00:07For the view now from the Australian government on all the challenges facing the world today,
00:11we can cross now to Paris, where we're joined by the Australian Trade and Tourism Minister, that's Don Farrell, of
00:16course.
00:17Good morning, sir. Great to have you with us on Europe today. You're very welcome.
00:22Good to be talking with you, Maith.
00:24So, look, you're in Paris today for these important talks.
00:27You seem to be edging closer and closer to Europe all the time.
00:31Is that because of the uncertainty of the US administration and the threats perhaps posed by China today?
00:37Look, once we came to government four years ago, pretty much this month,
00:44we had decided that because of problems that we'd had in our trading relationship around the world,
00:51that we needed to diversify our trading relationships and not have all our eggs in the one basket, as they
01:00say.
01:01And so, over the last four years, we have developed new trading relationships.
01:07The United Kingdom, for instance, we've signed a free trade agreement with them.
01:13That's working really well, and our trade is up very, very significantly with the United Kingdom, with India.
01:21Our trade's almost doubled with India since we reached a trade agreement.
01:27We reached an agreement with the UAE again.
01:32Again, that's been very successful.
01:34And now, most recently, the hardest of them all was a free trade agreement with the Europeans.
01:41But we signed that a few weeks ago in Sydney.
01:45You did indeed.
01:45It's always complicated, isn't it, when it comes to the European Union.
01:48But this all happens as well in a backdrop of potential prolonged instability in the Middle East
01:52that potentially could push the global economy closer to recession.
01:56Tell us, what's your view here, especially bearing in mind that you're in Paris today at these talks,
02:00and how this war is impacting the Australian economy?
02:04Yeah, look, there's no doubt, Maeve, that that'll be a hot topic that we'll be discussing over the next few
02:12days.
02:13My job in particular, since this war began, was to ensure that Australia had enough fuel,
02:20whether it be petrol, diesel or airline fuel, and fertiliser for our crops.
02:26So I've been very focused on travelling around the world to ensure that we've got sufficient of all of those
02:34products.
02:34So I've been in Singapore, I've been in China, I've been in Japan, and of course, now I'm here in
02:39Paris.
02:40We want to ensure that however long these troubles in the Middle East last,
02:48that we've got sufficient of all of those fuels to keep our industry going.
02:53It's very important for our farmers, very important for our miners.
02:56Very similar talks taking place in Brussels and other talks that took place here in Brussels just last Friday.
03:01Very urgent talks on how to deal with China.
03:03What would Australia's advice be here?
03:06How can Brussels learn from your example of dealing with Beijing?
03:10Well, patience is a good first start with the Chinese.
03:17When I became the Trade Minister four years ago, we had $20 billion worth of trade impediments with China.
03:26Now, you've got to put that in perspective.
03:28China is our largest trading partner, and at the time, trade was worth about $330 billion,
03:35two-way trade between Australia and China.
03:39But we set about to stabilise our relationship.
03:43We'd had a very rocky relationship, the previous government, and to win back all of that trade.
03:49And it took us three years.
03:52We didn't get it fixed overnight.
03:55But by the end of our last term in government, we had resolved all of those trade impediments.
04:00And for most of the products that had been subject to those impediments,
04:05we were now actually selling more than before the impediments were imposed.
04:11Okay.
04:11So I'll pass that message on to EU leaders.
04:13They need some patience.
04:14Just finally, do you consider China your biggest military threat?
04:17And are you also focused on tech sovereignty, like the European Union is doing today,
04:21by presenting a master plan?
04:23Well, we'd like to see peace in our region, Maeve.
04:28And when you look around the world, there's plenty of trouble spots around the world,
04:34whether it be the Middle East or in Europe.
04:37One of the things that we've been very focused on is, as a middle power in the region,
04:44is ensuring that we project our policies of a peaceful region.
04:49That's been very good for Australia in recent months,
04:53particularly with the troubles around the rest of the world.
04:56We've been able to continue pretty much uninterrupted our trade relationships,
05:01and that's the way we'd like to keep it.
05:04Okay.
05:04Minister Don Farrell, thank you so much for joining us this morning,
05:07live here on Euronews on Europe Today.
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