Australia G20 India, European Union trade deal talks: Assistant Minister Tim Ayres

Assistant Trade Minister Tim Ayres will seize the chance to rub elbows with his counterparts on the sidelines of the global economic forum.

"It's a terrific opportunity to grab those bilateral discussions, they're really important for building confidence and making the case for Australia," Senator Ayres said.

Australia's relationship with India is at an "all-time high", after signing India's first bilateral trade agreement in more than a decade. The two countries are looking to double down with a comprehensive free-trade deal.

"We're already five meetings deep into the new negotiations... it's a bit early to be telegraphing progress about specific items, but we're very optimistic," Senator Ayres said.

A one-on-one pow-wow with the Chinese delegates is also high on the agenda, after the Asian superpower lifted its ban on Australian barley earlier this month.

"If there's an opportunity to meet with China's representation, I'll be delighted to do that," Senator Ayres said.

"There is still more progress that has to be made before we've normalised trade, particularly in wine. I want to see an approach from China to resolving those issues as fast as possible."

Senator Ayres will also catch EU ministers to see if the "reality check" sunk in, after Australia temporarily walked away from trade talks.

"The deal offered too little and asked too much of us in terms of agricultural market access," Senator Ayres said.

"Any deal has to deliver in a commercially meaningful way for Australian agriculture. We've been very clear about that and I look forward to discussing these issues with our friends from the European Union."

The federal government has previously indicated it would like to conclude both the India and EU free-trade agreements by the end of the year, however

"We're all about ambition and not artificial deadlines," Senator Ayres said.

Australia will also use the G20 to continue its campaign to wean the world off $800-billion in agricultural subsidies,

The European Union is driving higher standards for sustainability and expects other nations to follow, browbeating or enforcing trade penalties on those who don't.

But experts have pointed out the EU's $144-billion in agricultural subsidies makes it easier, yet hypocritical, to push its sustainability agenda.

Senator Ayres did not comment specifically on the EU's agricultural subsidies, however noted subsidies actually undermined sustainability goals, as they promoted inefficient operations.

"The conflict between regimes that subsides inefficient [agricultural] production is going to be a major emerging issue around the world," he said.

"You can't be for sustainability and emissions reduction and for agricultural subsidies at the same time, it's an inconsistent position. We're going to keep pointing that out."

"There's more than $800-billion dollars worth of inefficient agricultural subsidies around the world. Now imagine if that was redirected towards research and development."