To help Australians avoid difficulties overseas, we maintain travel advisories for more than destinations. The Australian Passport Office and its agents are committed to providing a secure, efficient and responsive passport service for Australia. Across the globe, there is an expanding network of free trade agreements FTAs.

High-quality, comprehensive free trade agreements can play an important role in supporting global trade liberalisation and are explicitly allowed for under the World Trade Organization WTO rules. An FTA is an international treaty which removes barriers to trade and facilitates stronger trade and commercial ties, contributing to increased economic integration between participating countries.

FTAs can cover entire regions with multiple participants or link just two economies. FTAs open up opportunities for Australian exporters and investors to expand their businesses into key overseas markets. FTAs can improve market access across all areas of trade — goods, services and investment — and help to maintain and stimulate the competitiveness of Australian firms.

This benefits Australian consumers through access to an increased range of better value goods and services. A range of factors such as standards, professional qualifications, intellectual property rights and competition policies in trading partner countries may impact heavily on Australian companies exporting to those markets. As a member and strong supporter of the WTO, Australia upholds legal trade disciplines in relation to its FTAs to ensure they are of the highest quality and support the international trading system.

The Australian Government considers these standards as essential to all potential FTA participants and will not enter into trade agreements that fall short of the benchmarks set by the WTO or the benchmarks we set ourselves.

Regional Trade Agreements - OECD

Under WTO rules FTAs must:. This ensures Australia's FTA are comprehensive in their scope and result in the best possible outcomes for Australia. Australia has ten FTAs currently in force with New Zealand, Singapore, Thailand, US, Chile, the Association of South East Asian Nations ASEAN with New ZealandMalaysia, Korea, Japan and China. The countries covered by these FTAs account for 67 per cent of Australia's total trade. All social media accounts.

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EconPapers: Regional Trade Agreements and the WTO Legal System

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Travel advice To help Australians avoid difficulties overseas, we maintain travel advisories for more than destinations.

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About free trade agreements. FTAs and the World Trade Organization As a member and strong supporter of the WTO, Australia upholds legal trade disciplines in relation to its FTAs to ensure they are of the highest quality and support the international trading system. Under WTO rules FTAs must: Parliament of Australia in Canberra.

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