APPMA members played a significant role in the first post-Brexit trade deal just agreed in London betweenScott Morrison on behalf of the Australian government, and Boris Johnson for the UK government.
Back in October last year Australian Packaging & Processing Machinery Association (APPMA) board members Mark Dingley and Mark Emmett, sat down with the Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources.
They spoke about the packaging and processing machinery sector’s interests during this meeting, under the Australia-EU FTA and the Australia-UK FTA negotiations. The discussion allowed APPMA to ensure that the government had a better understanding of the sectors that the industry association, represent and to provide them with its views on trade.
In November, following on from that meeting with the Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources, APPMA went out to members, seeking feedback about Free Trade Agreements and tariffs with the EU and UK. From there, negotiations continued to take place between the two nations, and all views that APPMA members expressed were taken into consideration in forming their negotiating strategy, for both the EU FTA negotiations, and the UK FTA negotiations.
APPMA says it is “proud to say that the APPMA and our members, played a part in this historic free trade deal”, and says it hopes to be able to work with the Government more consistently in the future “for the betterment” of its members.
Prime minister Scott Morrison says the UK-Australia FTA could be worth $1.3bn a year to Australia. Morrison said the deal was, “the most comprehensive and ambitious agreement that Australia has concluded”. The FTA will mean no tariffs on machinery or packaging products going from Australia to the UK, or coming the other way. Trade between the two countries is currently worth around $22bn a year.
