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Australia

Australia

The EU and Australia are like minded partners who share many common concerns in today's international trade environment, such as the issue of raw materials and the risks of protectionism.

The EU and Australia conduct their trade and economic relations under the EU-Australia Partnership Framework of October 2008. This aims, apart from cooperation on the Doha Round of world trade talks and trade in services and investment issues, to facilitate trade in industrial products between the EU and Australia by reducing technical barriers, including assessment procedures.

Trade picture

  • Australia is an important economic and trading partner for the EU. In 2011, it ranked as the 15th largest trade in goods partner of the EU while the EU represented Australia's third largest trading partner after China and Japan (2010 figures).
  • Total trade in goods amounted to €46bn. Traditionally, Australia's exports to the EU are dominated by mineral commodities (fuels and mining products) and agricultural products (respectively accounting for 41.2% and 13.4% of EU's imports in 2011) while EU's exports to Australia have much more focused on manufactured goods (87.6%).
  • Total trade in commercial services between EU and Australia in 2011 amounted to €21bn and represented more than 31% of the total trade.

EU-Australia "trade in goods" statistics

Trade in goods 2010-2012, € billions
Year EU imports EU exports Balance
2010 9.9 26.8 16.9
2011 11.8 30.8 19.0
2012 14.4 33.8 19.3

EU-Australia "trade in services" statistics

Trade in services 2008-2011, € billions
Year EU imports EU exports Balance
2008 6.5 12.4 6.0
2009 5.8 12.1 6.3
2010 6.7 14.3 7.5

Foreign direct investment

Foreign direct investment 2010, € billions
Year Inward stocks Outward stocks Balance
2010 29.6 112.9 83.3

More statistics on Australia

EU and Australia

The EU-Australia Partnership Framework

  • It applies to medicinal devices, telecom terminal equipment, electrical safety, pharmaceutical GMP, machinery and pressure equipment, and motor vehicles.
  • In addition, since early 2012, Australia and the EU have been negotiating a formal Framework Agreement that contains a number of economic and trade cooperation provisions.

The EU and Australia conduct their trade and economic relations under the EU-Australia Partnership Framework of October 2008. This aims, apart from cooperation on the Doha Round of world trade talks and trade in services and investment issues, to facilitate trade in industrial products between the EU and Australia by reducing technical barriers, including assessment procedures. This covers mutual recognition of conformity assessment procedures, with the objective of reducing the costs of testing and certification of products exported to and imported from Australia.

Trading with Australia