Water Molecules

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In the context of the second meeting of the German-Australian Joint Economic Committee, Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy Peter Altmaier held a video conference today with Dan Tehan, Australia’s Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment, about closer economic cooperation.

Minister Altmaier said: "The COVID-19 pandemic has been the focus for our two countries for many months and has of course also affected our bilateral economic relations. For this reason, today’s meeting of the German-Australian Joint Economic Committee has been very important. We want to jointly give a new impetus to our bilateral economic relations. In this context, cooperation in the forward-looking areas of hydrogen and Industrie 4.0 is essential. As regards trade policy, the planned EU-Australia Trade Agreement of course plays a key role. The conclusion of the Agreement would make it easier for companies to become active on the market of the other country, and facilitate cooperation. I am therefore advocating a rapid conclusion of the negotiations."

The German-Australian Joint Economic Committee is a dialogue forum for Australian and German companies to open up new opportunities for cooperation. There is great interest especially in the field of hydrogen as Australia might become one of the world’s largest hydrogen producers and also supply Germany with green hydrogen on its path towards climate neutrality.

The trade volume between Germany and Australia has developed positively in recent years, although this trend has slowed somewhat due to the pandemic. In 2020, bilateral trade in goods totalled €11.38 billion, while it amounted to €12.2 billion in 2019. German imports totalled around €2.9 billion and exports approximately €8.48 billion.