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The Australian Government Trade and Investment Commission introduces a new $110 million dollar International Freight Assistance Mechanism to assist with Australia's agriculture and seafood exports to international markets.

 

The international markets key to Australia are China, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), but this list may expand depending on demand.

 

The scheme will also consist of flights bringing essential items back into Australia in response to the current pandemic. This will assist producers of high-value exports including seafood, red meat, dairy and horticulture.

 

The increase in flights is also welcomed by those in the trade sector because Covid-19 had severely impacted the number of flights to and from Australia.

 

The Federal Trade Minister Simon Birmingham explained that "90% of our air freight cargo usually goes in the bellies of passenger aircraft. But with very few international passenger flights leaving Australia currently, our exporters are facing major hurdles on how to move this cargo.

 

Through the better coordination of freight leaving Australia, we can restore key freight routes and establish more frequent flights to our key markets so that our agriculture and fishery exporters can deliver their products to customers on time".

 

The Agricultural Minister David Littleproud added "We're backing our farmers and fishers by making sure they can get more of their high-quality product into overseas markets. This is about reducing the barriers our agricultural and fisheries exporters face, so they can get back to focusing on producing the best and highest-quality product in the world".

 

The International Freight Assistance Mechanism has already proved to be a success with 560 registered businesses and 50 flights booked under the list of high-value products. Initiatives like this are exactly what Australia needs to help boost the economy after the uncertainty caused by the pandemic.

 

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