The Second Adelaide-Bologna Dialogue on Australia-EU Relations

Hosted by the Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence, on 13 September 2019. Participants investigated why the time is opportune by examining the evolution of EU and Australian trade policies and situating this evolution in the twenty-first century world trading system. Background papers were presented by Philomena Murray (University of Melbourne), Lucian Cernat (EU Chief Trade Economist), Richard Pomfret (Director, CoE) and Michael Plummer (Director, The Johns Hopkins University SAIS Europe, Bologna).  

Twenty participants including Allison Burrows (Australian chief negotiator,  the EU-Adelaide FTA), Cornelis Keijzer (lead negotiator EU-Japan FTA and currently Head of Trade,, Economics and Research at the EU Delegation in Canberra) Julia Nielson (Deputy Director Trade and Agriculture, OECD, Paris) and others from universities, international organizations and think tanks in Australia, the EU and USA.  Looking forward, the potential roles of the EU and Australia in supporting the multilateral trading system were examined.

It was first held on 1 October 2018 in Bologna, the University of Adelaide Institute for International Trade co-hosted with the Johns Hopkins University a Dialogue on Australia-EU relations, which included pre-launch of a book edited by Jane Drake-Brockman and Patrick Messerlin Potential Benefits of an EU-Australia Free Trade Agreement.  Participants in the Dialogue included senior EU and Australian officials, academics and researchers from think tanks and financial institutions.  The consensus was that the Australia-EU negotiations come at an opportune time when both sides bring goodwill and a desire for a successful conclusion.