Trade Minister Don Farrell says China's Foreign Minister will visit Australia in July, and invited his ministerial counterpart to do the same.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
At a bilateral meeting on trade disputes in Beijing on Friday afternoon, Senator Farrell confirmed China's Foreign Minister Qin Gang would visit Australia, saying "a good pattern" of reciprocal visits was emerging.
The trip is expected in July and follows Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong meeting her counterpart in China in December.
Senator Farrell told Commerce Minister Wang Wentao he should visit Adelaide, and stay at the Farrell family's winery in the Clare Valley.
"There's a good pattern there. The Foreign Minister is coming, so can I formally invite you to come to Australia and in particular come to Adelaide and South Australia."
His comments followed a story in the South China Morning Post revealing Mr Qin's expected July trip, which is yet to be formally announced by Beijing.
Friday's meeting was set to discuss damaging trade sanctions imposed on Australian exports to China, as well as the stabilisation of relations between the two countries.
Mr Wang welcomed "positive progress" after years of escalating tensions.
"China and Australia are important countries in the Asia Pacific. We do not have fundamental conflicts of interest," he said.
"We need to see our differences and divergence in perspective, improve and maintain our bilateral economic relations.
"This is in our fundamental interests."
READ MORE:
He said Australia was concerned about its products in Chinese markets, but Chinese producers wanted full and fair access to Australian consumers as well.
"Looking into the future, to maintain a good bilateral economic and trade relationship needs our joint efforts."
Punishing tariffs have badly hurt wine, barley and other exports from Australia, part of a campaign of economic sanctions over anti-foreign interference efforts, pushback to the Huawei 5G ban and Australia's calls for an investigation into the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic.
China recently agreed to review the barley bans in response to the suspension of a World Trade Organisation challenge by Australia, setting a course for the sanctions on the commodity to be lifted, together with those on wine.
The meeting was expected to discuss the issues "line-by-line".
Friday's meeting followed a proposal by world's largest steel-maker, China Baowu Group, to invest billions building a new green steel mill in Western Australia.
The company's chairman, Chen Dorong, told Senator Farrell that the company needed to decarbonise its operations and was eyeing Australia's abundant clean energy to support the transformation.
But he said other locations such as West Africa, South America, and Saudi Arabia were also being considered for the plant.
Mr Chen said the company hoped to choose Australia for the investment, which was "indeed an urgent test".
Senator Farrell will hold a press conference in Beijing after the talks and depart China early on Saturday morning.
