APEC Trade Ministers Meeting

Today I will attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Trade Ministers Meeting in Hanoi, Vietnam.

I look forward to meeting my Ministerial counterparts, including the new United States Trade Representative (USTR), Robert Lighthizer. This will be the first opportunity to meet the USTR after he was sworn in earlier this week.

APEC helps to drive greater levels of trade and investment across our region. At the meeting I will affirm Australia's support for an open, rules-based trading system and a collective response to the current challenges facing regional and global trade.

In Hanoi, I will also meet with ministers from Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) countries to continue our discussions on ways to capture the benefits of this important agreement. At the first meeting of TPP-11 countries in Chile in March, ministers tasked officials to work on all options for locking in TPP outcomes, including a TPP-11 Agreement. Ministers will review this work in Hanoi and decide on next steps.

If Labor got their way, and Australia abandoned the TPP, we would be cut out from these important discussions. Australia remains at the table because the Turnbull Government is committed to creating export opportunities for Australian businesses to create more jobs.

In Hanoi I will also attend a Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Ministerial Meeting. RCEP promises new market access opportunities for Australian businesses and improved access to regional supply chains. It will further integrate Australia into the fastest growing region in the world and simplify the regional trade and investment environment for Australian companies.

Participation in APEC strengthens our relationship with key economic partners, helping drive Australia's economic growth and job creation. APEC's 21 members account for 60 per cent of the world's GDP and 72 per cent of Australia's trade in goods and services.