China and Australia embarked on a new journey in their relations Monday as the two countries upgraded their diplomatic ties to a comprehensive strategic partnership and practically concluded their negotiations on a free trade agreement.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott watched as Australia’s Minister for Trade and Investment, Andrew Robb, and China’s Minister of Commerce, Gao Hucheng, signed a declaration of intent for the agreement at Parliament House in Canberra.

Abbott said the agreement was “ten years in the making” and would benefit both countries long-term.

Xi also commended the deal, saying, “the FTA agreement demonstrates a balance of interests and is a high-quality, high-level deal.”

Australian media reported that, under the deal, 85 percent of all Australian exports will enter China tariff-free.

“Both our countries will see the benefits flow through in the years ahead,” said the prime minister. “It is, as I said at the beginning, a good day for Australia, a good day for China, a good day for consumers in both our countries and ultimately a good day for workers in both our countries.”

CCTV America’s Roee Ruttenberg reported the story from Brisbane, Australia.

Two-way flow of goods and services between the countries was valued at more than $130 billion last year.

Their trade was worth just a quarter of that a decade ago.

In financial sectors, China will set up a clearing bank in Sydney to handle RMB business and grant a 50 billion yuan ($8.2 billion) quota of investment to Australian financial institutions under the RMB Qualified Foreign Institutional Investors program, Xi said.

China has also agreed to increase the inter-bank bond market quota to 10 billion yuan ($1.6 billion) for the Reserve Bank of Australia to invest in China.

Victor Zhikai Gao, director of the China National Association of International Studies and an executive director of the Beijing Private Equity Association, joined CCTV America for insight on this new trade deal.

Hans Hendrischke also joined CCTV America. He’s a professor of Chinese business and management at the University of Sydney Business School.

For more on China and Australia relations, CCTV America interviewed David Pearce from Center for International Economics.

Chinese President addresses Australian parliament, promotes development between nations

Chinese President Xi Jinping’s key speech to the Australian parliament was part of his state visit after the G-20 summit in Brisbane. The president said China will work with its neighbors to promote development and security in the Asia-Pacific region.

Xi is only the second Chinese president to address the Australian parliament and elaborate on China’s vision of development.

“China stands ready to pursue common development and prosperity with all other countries,” Xi said. “China will continue to follow a win-win strategy of opening up, develop a modern economy and strengthen and expand all-round mutual cooperation with other countries. China will never develop itself at the expense of others.”