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The Department of Foreign Affairs today announced the
appointment of Ms Elizabeth Schick as the Automotive Market
Access Facilitator.
Ms Schick will replace Mr Christopher Langman as the head
of the Automotive Market Access Team, one of five specialist
teams dedicated to priority industry sectors.
The automotive industry is an important part of the
Australian economy, employing more than 50,000 people and
with annual export sales in excess of $2.6 billion.
Working with industry, the Government has developed a
comprehensive Automotive Trade Strategy as an important
element of its efforts to foster the development of a
sustainable, prosperous and internationally competitive
automotive industry. This Strategy seeks to help the
Australian automotive industry become better integrated
within the global automotive industry and market.
Through its Market Access Teams the Department of Foreign
Affairs and Trade acts to develop priorities, implement
strategies and improve market access for Australian products
in overseas markets through means such as:
negotiations in international trading forums
including the WTO,
expanding links with key trading partners through
forums such as the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation
(APEC) group and
lobbying individual Governments to reduce barriers or
eliminate impediments to Australian exports.
The five market access teams cover agriculture, processed
food and beverages, information industries, textiles
clothing and footwear, and automotive.
Ms Schick joined the former Department of Trade and
Industry in Canberra in 1973 and since then has worked
extensively on multilateral negotiations and bilateral trade
issues, with a particular emphasis on Australia's trade with
North Asia. From 1994 to 1997, Ms Schick was Director APEC
Economic and Technical Cooperation. Her most recent
appointment was as Head of the Department's Nuclear Policy
Branch.
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