Ciobo was speaking during a visit to London.
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The BBC says Australia has been earmarked by Whitehall as the UK’s first post-Brexit trade partner.
Amusingly, the ministerial release also says Australia and the United Kingdom want to “maintain momentum” in negotiations that haven’t yet commenced.
The announcement came after talks between the United Kingdom and Australian trade ministers, Liam Fox and Steven Ciobo, in London.
Britain has said it will not trigger the formal, two-year divorce process from the European Union this year, and it can not sign agreements with other countries until it leaves the bloc.
The duo said the group would start working towards an “ambitious and comprehensive Australia-UK free trade agreement.to generate new trade and investment opportunities”. “It remains a goal for us today”, he said in a speech at the London pan-Asian organisation Asia House.
Such matters may be a way down the list: the ABC points out that British farmers want to retain the generous subsidies they now enjoy and that’s going to be resented by Australia’s agricultural sector in any free trade agreement negotiation.
Ciobo, who is headed to Brussels later this week to discuss the EU-Australia deal, said discussions he had with British trade minister Liam Fox on Tuesday had been “conducive” to having a deal in place shortly after Britain leaves the EU.
The group will be made up of senior officials from the United Kingdom and Australia and will meet with trade ministers in flagship summits twice a year, with the first taking place early next year in Australia.
“Clearly there is expertise to build upon”, he said.
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May’s spokeswoman told Reuters: “The prime minister has set out that we are going to need to be able address people’s concerns about migration within the European Union and get the best possible deal in trade and services and now work is under way”.
