The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is inviting submissions from a wide variety of stakeholders on issues relevant to the upgrading and modernisation of our network of FTAs in Southeast Asia.

We want to hear from:

• businesses
• peak bodies and member organisations
• state and territory governments
• non-government organisations
• research institutions
• the Australian community.

DFAT is looking to identify opportunities for improved utilisation, upgrade and modernisation of Australia's network of FTAs to inform future upgrade negotiations. In your submission, you may wish to discuss:

• potential gaps or opportunities for trade in Southeast Asia and areas for improvement
• barriers to trade that could be addressed through enhancing existing FTAs or establishing new comprehensive agreements
• overlaps between Australia's bilateral and regional FTAs with Southeast Asian economies, and options to resolve
• opportunities in specific industries, sectors, goods, services and investment in Southeast Asian economies
• new and emerging trade issues that could be better reflected in our network of FTAs, such as the green economy, digital economy and sustainable agriculture
• ways or approaches to FTA disciplines that could increase Australian exports and investment in Southeast Asia and/or make trade easier for Australian businesses.

Submissions should cover bilateral agreements including the Singapore-Australia Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA), the Malaysia-Australia Free Trade Agreement (MAFTA), the Thailand-Australia Free Trade Agreement (TAFTA), the Indonesia-Australia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (IA-CEPA), and the regional or plurilateral agreements including the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP) and the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Area (AANZFTA).

We also welcome views on any potential new FTAs with countries in Southeast Asia.

Your submission may include information on changes to your exporting, importing or investment situation and/or significant changes to business conditions. We welcome product, service or investment-specific case studies.

In addition, we are interested in receiving views on the prioritisation of interests to assist the government in determining priorities for future FTA upgrades and modernisation.

All submissions will be made publicly available on the DFAT website unless the author specifies that all or part of the submission should not be made available to the public.

Separately, the government has announced a $1.75 million grant program to support trade-exposed industries conduct research and analysis into opportunities for improved utilisation, upgrade and modernisation and of Australia's network of free trade agreements in Southeast Asia. Details about the grant program can be found on the GrantConnect.

Closing date for submissions

Submissions are due by 31 December 2025 to feed into the review.

Confidentiality

Where organisations have not provided permission for their submissions to be publicly released, these submissions will be omitted from the list and will not be available to the public.

Copyright and content

Copyright in submissions resides with the author(s), not with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

The views expressed in these submissions are the views of the author(s) and should not be understood as reflecting the views of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

File format

Please use a Word or PDF file for submissions. Where possible, we also encourage making your submission accessible. Information on Creating documents that meet accessibility guidelines is available on our website.

Lodging submissions

To provide a submission, please email: FTAModernisation@dfat.gov.au and include 'Southeast Asia FTA Modernisation Submission [name of organisation]' in the subject line.