Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will push China to lift the remaining trade sanctions on Australian exports when he meets the economic giant’s Premier on the sidelines of the ASEAN summit.
Early today, Albanese arrived in Laos for the gathering of leaders from South-East Asian nations, where he will hold sideline talks with Chinese Premier Li Qiang.
China’s already lifted restrictions on Australian exports, such as coal, barley and wine, but a trade ban on lobster remains in place.
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Speaking with 9News after landing in the Laos capital,, Albanese said he wanted to further stabilise relations with China.
“My message will be a consistent one, which is that we’ll cooperate where we can, we’ll disagree where we must, and we’ll have some direct discussions about some of the disagreements that are there.”
Last month Treasurer Jim Chalmers visited Beijing for talks with his Chinese counterparts.
He said officials from both countries were working through details to lift the ban on Australian lobster.
Australia, Japan, South Korea and India are dialogue partners with the 10-member Association of South-East Asian Nation (ASEAN).
But Albanese has stressed how countries in the region play an important role for the Australian economy.
“This is an important relationship that Australia has with South-East Asia,” he said.
“It’s our second largest trading partner. There are 500,000 jobs in Australia. dependent upon our trade in South-East Asia.”
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