After a year of skirmishing, the Sino-Australian Free Trade Agreement (FTA) discussions are finally taking shape, with China agreeing in principle to include the sensitive areas of government procurement and investment in any agreement.

But progress on the most contentious issue, opening up China¡¯s lucrative services sector to Australian banks, insurers, telecommunications and transport companies, remained elusive.

The Chinese signaled they were interested in resources investment and greater temporary labor access, and indicated they would table draft text on these topics in the next round of talks, which are scheduled for early September in Beijing.

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