Negotiations on a comprehensive free trade agreement between Canberra and Brussels are to begin next month, the European Union's Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom and Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull announced on Monday, according to dpa. "In challenging times, it is heartening to see that Australia shares our commitment to a positive trade agenda, and to the idea that good trade agreements are a win for both sides," Malmstrom told a joint press conference in Canberra. "It is a very hands-on statement that we are sending," Malmstrom said. "The European Union and Australia have always been defenders of the international system, multilateral trade, global rules, the predictability. It is not perfected but they have served us well," she continued. The EU is Australia's second largest trading partner, after China, and two-way-trade was worth about 100 billion Australian dollars (75 billion US dollars) in 2016-17.
