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AAP
AAP
Politics
Poppy Johnston

'Goodwill on both sides' key to EU trade deal: Farrell

Minister Don Farrell is confident free trade talks with the European Union can get back on track. (Mick Tsikas/AAP PHOTOS) (AAP)

The trade minister says Australia and the European Union are digging in on key issues holding back a possible free trade agreement but a deal is still in reach.

Trade Minister Don Farrell said get was confident he could get negotiations "back on track" and there had been "quite a bit" of progress on the main sticking points.

"The Europeans are negotiating very hard about some of the issues that they're concerned about," the trade minister told ABC radio.

"But we're presenting an equally strong case, and I'm confident that with a bit of goodwill on both sides, we can get the negotiations back on track."

Last week, Agriculture Minister Murray Watt said Australia was prepared to walk away from the deal, with negotiations breaking down over geographic indicators that would stop Australian producers from using names such as parmesan, feta or prosecco to label products.

Australia has said the indicators issue is not on the table, leading to a breakdown in talks.

Despite this stance, the trade minister said Australia was still demonstrating goodwill and he had spent two days negotiating with officials last week.

"So yes, we are demonstrating will but it takes two to tango, and Europeans have to show they're prepared to give our agriculture industry greater access to that European market," Senator Farrell said.

The trade minister said Australia wanted to be able to supply a range of agricultural products into the massive market but Europeans wanted to protect their own agricultural industries.

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