Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal and Australian Minister for Trade and Investment Dan Tehan held detailed and wide-ranging talks on Thursday to strengthen India-Australia’s economic and trade ties, helping to build momentum for an interim free trade agreement (FTA) between the two countries.
“I can assure you that we have a very strong partnership in the making, which we will finalise over the next 30 days. That’s the kind of aggressive timelines that have been set for our teams today. I’m quite confident we will come up with some very exciting news for businesses in both countries,”Goyal said after a meeting with his Australian counterpart Dan Tehan, who is visiting the national capital to advance the trade negotiations between both nations.
The ongoing negotiations are expected to culminate in an India-Australia Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) covering trade in goods, services, and investment, among other things, with “both sides working towards a mutually beneficial agreement for both our people and economies,” as Goyal tweeted. Last year, bilateral trade between India and Australia exceeded USD 24 billion.
The current talks, which will culminate in a virtual meeting between the two ministers on December 21, 2021, are likely to have covered government procurement, energy and resources, logistics and transportation, standards, and rules of origin, among other topics that were expected to be discussed after Goyal and Tehan held a joint press conference in September.
An early harvest agreement aims to reduce tariffs on items traded between two nations or trading blocs before a comprehensive deal is reached. In the case of India and Australia, an early harvest will likely expand market access for Australian wines while also improving mobility between the two countries.
