CHINA and Australia yesterday signed a declaration of intent on a landmark free trade deal more than a decade in the making, opening up markets worth billions to Australia and loosening restrictions on Chinese investment.

    The deal will open up Chinese markets to Australian farm exporters and the services sector while easing curbs on Chinese investment in resource-rich Australia.

    Chinese President Xi Jinping and Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott, together with a retinue of government ministers, signed the memorandum of understanding during a ceremony in parliament in Canberra.

    Australia is attempting to transit from a reliance on exports of minerals such as coal and iron ore to expanding its food and agricultural exports to a growing Asian middle class, moving from a “mining boom” to a “dining boom.”

    China is already Australia’s top trading partner, with two-way trade of around A$150 billion (US$130 billion) in 2013.

    Once the agreement is fully implemented, a result of nine-year-long talks, Australia will eventually remove tariffs on all goods imported from China, and a vast majority of Australian products will enter China tariff-free.

    The agreement gives Australian dairy farmers tariff-free access within four years to China’s lucrative infant formula market, minus any of the “safeguard” caps that currently restrict competitors from New Zealand.

    Wine makers, currently selling more than A$200 million worth of goods to China each year despite tariffs of between 14 and 20 percent, will also see tariffs eliminated over four years.

    Tariffs on horticultural products, seafood and other goods accounting for 93 percent of Australian exports by value will also be reduced to zero by 2019, and on beef within nine years.

    Private Chinese companies would be able to make single investments of up to A$1.078 billion in Australia without needing a review by the government’s regulator. Previously, the limit was A$248 million.(SD-Xinhua)