China, Australia vow to speed up FTA talks

BEIJING -- China and Australia on Wednesday vowed to speed up negotiations on a bilateral free trade agreement (FTA) when Chinese Vice Premier Wang Yang met with Australian Trade Minister Richard Marles in Beijing.

Wang said he hopes the two countries can reach the FTA soon, so as to enrich the content of their bilateral strategic partnership.

Marles said the Australian government attaches great importance to the development of bilateral trade relations.

The Australian side is willing to show flexibility and will actively push for progress in the FTA negotiations, he said.

Also on Wednesday, Wang met with EU Agriculture Commissioner Dacian Ciolos.

Wang said the two sides should give full play to each other's advantages to push forward the in-depth development of China-EU agricultural cooperation and jointly cope with challenges facing the agricultural sector.

Ciolos said the EU attaches importance to agricultural cooperation with China and is ready to carry out the bilateral cooperation program on agriculture and rural development.