Morrison close to French submarine deal

Australia's $50 billion deal with France to build new submarines will be personally dealt with between Scott Morrison and Emmanuel Macron in order to get it done quickly.

The prime minister met with the French president at the G20 in Buenos Aires on Friday afternoon local time and they discussed the submarine strategic partnership agreement.

"We made a lot of progress there, the SPA is progressing extremely well," Mr Morrison told reporters after the meeting in Argentina.

"We agreed that we can elevate that back up to leader-level to ensure it's finalised in the near term."

Mr Morrison praised the work of Defence Minister Christopher Pyne and his French counterpart Florence Parly in getting the deal ready.

"It's a huge project, it's important to both countries for the next 50 years," he said.

"So we're getting very close to finalising that arrangement."

The $50 billion contract to build 12 submarines was agreed to in 2016, but the coalition has planned to sign it before the 2019 election.