Being organised includes getting the right balance between the bilateral, regional and multilateral strands of market access work. This Government said we would focus more on bilateral efforts. Building strong bilateral relationships underpins efforts on a regional and multilateral basis. They are the key foundations on which we can build in political and in trade terms. The bilateral level is the hard grind of negotiating better access for Australian goods, services and investment - country by country, market by market.
Bilateral efforts involve market access, market development and promotion.
You can't, as a trading middleweight, batter down all the doors on your own. Targeted, integrated approaches which are concentrated on particular sectors in a single or regional market, can establish and strengthen Australia's commercial presence and improve exports. In eight months of government, we've already proved that bilateral efforts are valuable. We've got better access for milk into Hong Kong, fruit into the Philippines and kangaroo meat into France. We've expanded air services with Indonesia, Argentina and South Africa.