The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) is the department of the Australian federal government responsible for foreign policy and relations,international aid,consular services and trade and investment. Australia's total official development assistance (ODA) decreased in 2022 due to differences in Australia's financial year reporting and the timing of its COVID-19-related expenditure,representing 0.19% of gross national income (GNI).
The China–Australia Free Trade Agreement (ChAFTA) is a bilateral free trade agreement (FTA) between the governments of Australia and China. Since negotiations began,21 negotiating rounds have been completed. The deal was completed on 17 November 2014 and details released two days later,nearly 10 years after its first round of negotiations that began on 23 May 2005 after a joint feasibility study. The free trade agreement was signed between the two countries on 17 June 2015. Following the usual treaty making process the agreement came into force on 20 December 2015,after the Chinese Government completed its domestic legal and legislative processes and the Australian Parliament’s Joint Standing Committee on Treaties and the Senate Foreign Affairs,Defence and Trade References Committee finished a review.
Peter Richard Woolcott is an Australian public servant,diplomat and the former Australian Public Service Commissioner. He was previously the Chief of Staff to Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. Woolcott has served as the Australia's High Commissioner to New Zealand,the Australian Ambassador for the Environment,the Australian Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Geneva,the Australian Ambassador to Italy,the Deputy Head of Mission in Jakarta,and the Consul-General in Honolulu.
Kim Hyun-jong is a former minister for trade under Presidents Roh Moo-hyun and Moon Jae-in.
New Zealand is party to several free trade agreements (FTAs) worldwide.
Kiyotaka Akasaka is the former United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information. He was appointed to the position by the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in February 2007. Akasaka also served as Coordinator for Multilingualism in the UN Secretariat. He completed his appointment at the UN in March 2012 and was succeeded by Peter Launsky-Tieffenthal of Austria.
Igor Garafulic Olivares is a Chilean economist,academic,and former intendant of the Santiago Metropolitan Region under the 2006 - 2010 administration of president Michelle Bachelet.
Vangelis (Evangelos) Vitalis is a New Zealand diplomat and trade negotiator currently working as the Deputy Secretary for the country's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
Geoffrey William "Geoff" Raby is an Australian economist and diplomat. He served as the Australian Ambassador to the People's Republic of China from February 2007 until August 2011. He is now the chairman and CEO of Geoff Raby and Associates,a Beijing-based business advisory firm. Raby currently sits on the board of an Australian subsidiary of Chinese state-run Yanzhou Coal Mining Company.
Frances Jennifer Adamson,is an Australian public servant and diplomat who is the 36th Governor of South Australia,in office since 7 October 2021. She previously served as Australian Ambassador to China from 2011 to 2015 and as secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade from 2016 to 2021.
Louise Helen Hand is an Australian diplomat and is a senior career officer with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
Ashton Trevor Calvert,was a senior Australian public servant. He was Secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade from April 1998 to January 2005.
Ric Lawson Wells (born 20 October 1955 is an Australian former diplomat and senior public servant with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Wells' senior postings included Australia’s Ambassador to France from 2011 until 2014 and two terms as Deputy Secretary of DFAT.
Gillian Elizabeth Bird has served as Australia's Ambassador to France since November 2020. Bird concurrently serves as Australia's non-resident Ambassador to Algeria,Mauritania,and Monaco. She is a former Permanent Representative of Australia to the United Nations,serving between 2015 and 2019.
The Korea–Australia Free Trade Agreement (KAFTA) is a bilateral agreement seeking to reduce trade and investment barriers between Australia and South Korea. The agreement,which came into effect on the 12th of December 2014 provides Australian goods exporters,service providers and investors with significantly improved access to the South Korean market. The trade agreement stems from decades of bilateral relations,encompassing security,trade and diplomatic ties from 1962,when then President Park Chung-Hee introduced a series of five-year plans designed to spur globalisation efforts and industrial development in Korea following the end of the Korean War.
Yoo Myung-hee is a South Korean politician who served as the Minister for Trade of South Korea from 2019 to 2021. She was the first woman to hold the position. Over the past 25 years,she worked in various government agencies since she passed the Korean state civil servant exam in 1991. She is also noted as being the final two candidates in the 2020 World Trade Organization leadership race.
Justin Hugh Brown is a senior Australian public servant and former officer with the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Brown is currently a non-executive director of Wine Australia,a statutory corporation that promotes and regulates the Australian wine industry.
Graham Fletcher is an Australian diplomat who has served as the Australian Ambassador to China since August 2019.
Aishath Azeema is a Maldivian diplomat who served as the Maldives' ambassador to China from 2019 to 2023.
Abu Sufian bin Haji Ali is a Brunei diplomat who became the ambassador to Belgium from 2017 to 2021,and the permanent representative to the United Nations (UN) in Geneva.
