Australia was already pursuing a free-trade agreement with the European Union when Britain voted to exit.
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Mrs May has tried to use the G20 summit in Hangzhou to convince world leaders that Britain would be a forward-looking participant in global trade once negotiations to leave the European Union were complete.
The Australian Prime Minister has given Theresa May a boost at the G20 summit by saying he wants a “very strong, very open” trade deal with the UK.
She is also expected to have a brief discussion with Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe, whose government has produced a series of demands aimed at protecting the country’s firms operating in the United Kingdom from Brexit.
“From our point of view, (we’re) getting in to deal with the British early, to ensure that we are able to negotiate a very strong, very open free-trade agreement with Britain”, he said.
The Prime Minister will give her verdict on the £18 billion project later this month, with security implications and the high cost of the energy produced by the Somerset plant among the concerns raised by critics about the scheme.
“Whether it is underground mining or other form of mining, Australian companies can provide us those technologies”, he added.
“As countries scale back excess capacity, they have to do so in a way that they feel is fair – this is why it’s important for people to be frank and to collaborate”, Mr Turnbull told reporters in Hangzhou on Monday. It will be a complex and challenging process leaving the European Union.
“But I’m very clear that it doesn’t mean that we are going to be inward-looking”.
“We have a very open foreign investment policy, so we mostly say yes, we nearly invariably say yes but from time to time we say no and we make no bones about that and China respects that”, he said. “And obviously, Australia, with our long-standing ties and our close relationship, will be one of the first countries we will be looking to”.
During the closed-door meeting, President Xi told Turnbull that he hopes Australia would create a positive atmosphere for foreign investors from China, who are keen to do business with Canberra.
“Prime Minister Modi’s overall message was that we need a unified approach on countering terrorism”, Swarup said.
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Britain and Australia have discussed negotiating a post-Brexit trade agreement, the two countries’ leaders said today at the G20 summit in China, as Britain seeks to secure its economic ties before quitting the EU.
