Australia, UAE to Pursue Trade Deal

Australia and the United Arab Emirates plan to negotiate a free trade agreement, Australia’s trade ministry said March 17. The deal would be the first bilateral trade agreement between Australia and a Middle Eastern country, Australia said, and would create new “opportunities” for Australian exporters. The country also hopes the deal will represent an “important building block” toward a free trade deal with the Gulf Cooperation Council, whose members are the UAE, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar and Kuwait. Australia and the UAE plan to begin negotiations “in the near future.”