The UK government announced it finalised the signing of a wide-ranging trade deal with Australia.
The deal is expected to unlock £10.4bn of additional trade, boosting the economy and increasing wages across the UK, while eliminating tariffs on 100 pct of UK exports, according to the Department for International Trade (DTI).
The deal is inevitably a gateway into the fast-growing Indo-Pacific region, the DTI said, and will boost the UK’s bid to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), one of the largest free trade areas in the world, covering £8.4tn of GDP and 11 Pacific nations from Australia to Mexico.
Specifically, it gives UK firms guaranteed access to bid for an additional £10 billion worth of Australian public sector contracts per year.
It also allows young people to work and travel in Australia for up to three years at a time, removing previous visa conditions.
In addition, for the first time UK service suppliers including architects, scientists, researchers, lawyers and accountants will have access to visas to work in Australia without being subject to Australia’s changing skilled occupation list.
"This is more than Australia has ever offered any other country in a free trade agreement", the DTI said.
The deal has been touted by the UK government as “setting new global standards in digital and services and creating new work and travel opportunities for Brits and Aussies.”
It was agreed in principle by prime ministers Boris Johnson and Scott Morrison respectively in London in June 2021 and according to the DTI, negotiators have now finalised all chapters of the agreement.
The final deal was signed in a virtual ceremony by International Trade Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan late on 16 December 2021 and will now go before Parliament for a period of scrutiny.