Federal member for Page Kevin Hogan said the signing of the agreed text of the Trans-Pacific Partnership is the next step towards Northern Rivers agricultural and food exporters winning a bigger market share in some of the world’s largest economies.
“Today we’re a step closer to the benefits that will flow from the world’s largest ever regional trade agreement — an agreement including five of our top 10 trading partners,” he said.
“These countries represent 25 per cent of world trade, 36 per cent of the global economy and around a third of our agriculture exports—and this agreement gives us preferential access that will have real, tangible outcomes for exporters of most of our main export commodities.”
Under the TPP, tariffs on exports from Northern Rivers farmers will be eliminated on beef, dairy, seafood as well as many other produce (see list attached).
The 12 TPP parties comprise Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, NZ, Singapore, USA and Vietnam.
Mr Hogan said the TPP was the latest in a string of trade deals signed by the Australian Government that were cutting tariffs and opening new opportunities for agricultural and food producers across the Northern Rivers.
“The agreements with Korea, Japan and China are delivering real returns and we’re now working toward bilateral agreements with India and Indonesia—two important trading partners where demand for agricultural and food products is set to boom in the coming decades,” he said.
