Consultative Mechanisms

The Department consults with the business community, State and Territory Governments and community groups on a wide range of trade-related issues. Formal consultative mechanisms include:

National Trade Consultations

The National Trade Consultations (NTC) process provides a forum for consultation, coordination and collaboration on trade and investment issues between the Commonwealth and State and Territory governments.

The Minister for Trade chairs a meeting with State and Territory ministers who have responsibility for trade issues, normally one or two times a year. Additional issue-specific meetings can be arranged as necessary. DFAT also regularly consults with State and Territory government officials on trade-related matters.

Agricultural Trade Consultative Group

The Agricultural Trade Consultative Group (ATCG) provides a formal high-level government-industry mechanism that consults on a range of agricultural reform and trade issues, particularly in the context of WTO agriculture negotiations. ATCG meetings are chaired jointly by the Minister for Trade and the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, and its membership comprises senior representatives from major agricultural industry organisations.

AFTA-CER Business Council (ACBC)

The AFTA-CER Business Council (ACBC) is focussing on proposals to enhance business links between the two regions in the areas of information and communications technology (ICT) and electronic commerce, human resource development, and small and medium enterprises.

The ACBC has identified non-tariff barriers as a major impediment to increasing ASEAN-CER trade flows and intends to focus its work on what can be done to remove them.

APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC)

ABAC is a private sector arm of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum. Unlike many other international organisations, APEC puts strong emphasis on participation by the business community in its activities. APEC economic leaders established ABAC in November 1995 as a permanent forum to advise them and other APEC officials on issues of interest to business [visit ABAC's website]

APEC Australian Business Forum

Hosted by the Minister for Trade, the APEC Australian Business Forum is an annual event bringing together senior government officials and business executives to discuss how APEC can help to lower business costs in the region. In April 2001, the annual APEC Australian Business Forum was held in Melbourne with the theme of 'Business and Policy Strategies in the Asia-Pacific'. The forum brought together 160 leading business people and government officials to discuss how APEC can help lower business costs in the region. The forum included industry-government focus groups on finance, manufacturing and e-commerce, as well as a panel discussion involving the Minister for Trade.

Briefings, Seminars, Research and Publications

The Department provides briefings and arranges seminars on a range of issues of interest to the community. These are usually held in the Department's State and Territory Offices. The Department also undertakes research and analysis of emerging issues that will affect Australia's international trade and investment performance. In addition, we prepare various regular publications which give information on overseas markets. These range from country profiles and statistics to detailed reports which analyse long-term political trends and business opportunities.

TradeWatch

TradeWatch provides Australian businesses with current information about the international trade and investment environment and Australian Government action to open international markets.