Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has announced the conclusion of negotiations over a free trade agreement with China.
In a statement, Mr Abbott confirmed the two countries will sign a declaration of intent later this afternoon.
"As a result of my meeting with His Excellency Xi Jinping, President of the People's Republic of China, in Canberra this morning, I am pleased to announce the completion of negotiations for a China-Australia free trade agreement," Mr Abbott said in a statement on Monday.
"Trade and Investment Minister Andrew Robb and Chinese Commerce Minister Gao Hucheng will sign a Declaration of Intent this afternoon, undertaking to prepare the legal texts in both languages for signature."
It's been reported the deal is worth around $18 billion. News Corp Australia reports that under the deal 85 per cent of all Australian exports will enter China tariff-free.
This is expected to rise to 93 per cent within four years and 95 per cent when the deal is fully in force in more than a decade.Australian manufacturers, farmers, miners and the service sector including finance and tourism industries are believed to be among the biggest winners.
Beef and dairy producers are set to benefit from a phase-down in Chinese tariffs, with dairy exports moving to a similar tariff reduction schedule as New Zealand, News Corp reports.
Parliamentary Secretary Josh Frydenberg says the deal is a once in a generation outcome.
"I think this is a game changer," he told ABC radio earlier today.
China is Australia's number one trading partner, with the two-way flow of goods and services exceeding $150 billion last year. Trade between the countries was worth just a quarter of that amount a decade ago.
Mr Frydenberg said the sky was the limit on how high trade with China could climb.
"It will supercharge our trade with China," he said.
Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce wouldn't reveal details of the free trade agreement on Monday morning, but was confident it would be "extremely well received".
The FTA would boost the export of agricultural products, which he said would counter the downturn in mining commodities.
"If we can alleviate that in some way by exports in dairy and exports of beef and exports of wine, horticultural produce, fish, then that is a good outcome for us," Mr Joyce told ABC radio.
