Australia is sticking to trade agreements with the EU

Australian Trade Minister Dan Tehan said Friday he expected a free trade agreement with the European Union to be concluded by the end of next year, despite EU anger over Canberra's cancellation of a submarine treaty with France.

Brussels has postponed the latest round of talks, which should start on October 12, in solidarity with France until November after Australia terminated the multi-billion dollar treaty that Paris saw as the cornerstone of its Indo-Pacific policy.

Instead, it secretly negotiated the construction of at least eight nuclear-powered submarines using US and UK technology as part of a trilateral security pact between the three countries announced last month.

Tehan, who was in Italy for a meeting of the group of 20 industrialized countries, said in an interview with Reuters news agency that he was not concerned about the delay in talks, as an agreement was in the interests of both sides.

When asked when he expected the deal to be concluded, he replied: "I suspect the final will take some time and we hope for the end of next year to finalize the negotiations".

He downplayed the damage to EU-Australia relations over the submarine dispute and said he had "very good talks" with seven EU ministers at a meeting of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development in Paris this week .

It will be more difficult to improve relations with France, which has called Australia's exit from the naval agreement a "stab in the back" and has so far refused to discuss reparations.

Tehan said Australia made an open offer to France.

"The most important thing is that we sit down so that Australia can fully explain the decision we made because it was in our national interest," he said.

France said on October 6 that it would send its ambassador back to Australia to redefine relations after recalling him for consultations in protest.

On the environment, Tehan rejected criticism of Australia for failing to present updated carbon emissions reduction targets in the run-up to the UN climate talks (COP 26) in Glasgow next month.

He said the plan that Canberra is putting out in Glasgow to "hopefully" reach net-zero emissions by 2050 is more detailed than the plans of many countries that have ambitious goals but do not explain exactly how to achieve them want.

Tehan said Australia is pushing for the G20 and World Trade Organization to look into the great contribution of farm subsidies to carbon emissions.

He said that agriculture and land use accounted for 25% of emissions and that it would be impossible for countries to meet their Paris Agreement climate goals if this issue is not addressed.

"So when it comes to issues that will help us contain climate change, we are at the forefront and pushing for action," he said.

(1 dollar = 0.8654 euros)