CANBERRA: Both governments have been pushing for such a deal for economic and political reasons. The British Government is keen to demonstrate that it has a positive agenda for the country after it leaves the European Union in 2020 and an early trade deal with a friend like Australia is a quick win. It will also be a relatively safe environment to brush up Whitehall’s trade negotiation skills after decades of relying on officials in Brussels to negotiate on its behalf. For Australia, a new trade deal with the UK would provide new trade and investment opportunities in a variety of industries and support the Australian government’s desire to build new innovative Australian science, industries and businesses.
So far both countries have informally discussed what issues could be covered if negotiations on such an agreement formally commenced. The British and Australian governments have had a joint working group looking at the issue for some time, the UK Government has made submissions to an ongoing Australian parliamentary inquiry into Australia’s trade relations with the UK, and ministers on both sides from Prime Ministers down have talked about the desirability of a new trade and investment agreement between the two countries. Areas flagged for negotiation include agriculture, education, energy, finance and banking, green technologies, healthcare, infrastructure, mining, pharmaceuticals and tourism. While there have been no formal ‘negotiations’ on an agreement as such due to Britain still being a member of the EU, there’s been an awful lot of informal dialogue already about what could be in it.
For the life sciences sectors in both countries, such an agreement could be a real opportunity. With a bit of creative thinking and positive engagement, the pharmaceutical and biotech industries in the UK and Australia could contribute to a positive trade and investment agreement that supports both countries’ economic, industrial and social agendas.
