SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australia said on Wednesday China could lift all its remaining trade blocks by next month as relations between the commodity trade partners stabilise and after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s visit to Beijing earlier this month.
Albanese’s government has taken credit for patching up ties with China since coming to office last year. China has lifted most trade blocks imposed amid a 2020 diplomatic dispute after Australia called for an inquiry into the origins of COVID-19.
“I remain very confident … that by Christmas all of these trade impediments will be removed,” trade minister Don Farrell told ABC Radio from San Francisco, where he is attending Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meetings.
“And we will have restored that stable relationship that we want with our largest trading partner.”
Farrell said he hoped to resolve the issues over lobster and beef, which related to bio-security rules, ahead of a meeting with Chinese counterpart Wang Wentao in San Francisco.
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