India and Australia have reached an understanding of each others’ proposals in five key policy areas including goods and services trade that will form part of the proposed Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA). The understanding of the positions will lead to both sides working out an action plan for further negotiations.
The 10th round of CECA talks, held in Sydney between August 19 and August 22, also led to an understanding in areas such as government procurement, rules of origin and digital trade.
The India-Australia CECA covers 19 policy areas, of which discussions have been completed in four. “It was decided that, given the clear understanding of each other’s proposals under the five tracks, track leads from both sides would work out an action plan for negotiations through virtual intersessional meetings before the next round,” said a statement from the commerce and industry ministry on Sunday. The 11th round of negotiations is scheduled to take place in New Delhi in November.
“The meeting involved intensive discussions and negotiations aimed at narrowing down differences through a better understanding of each other’s proposals and identifying ways to achieve convergence. Both sides made efforts, keeping in mind domestic sensitivities, to reach a balanced outcome,” the statement added.
The chief negotiators also reviewed bilateral trade and investment relations between India and Australia, reaffirming their commitment to strengthen and enhance the economic partnership by building on the positive outcomes of the Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (ECTA), which has been in effect since December 2022.
The CECA is an extension of the ECTA, which served as an early harvest deal. While ECTA covered five policy areas, 14 additional areas have been added to the CECA.
The CECA envisages deeper and more comprehensive engagement on the five issues initially covered under ECTA—goods, services, digital trade, government procurement and rules of origin.
New areas of interest for inclusion in the CECA include competition policy, micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), innovation, agricultural technology, critical minerals and sports. Significant progress has been made in talks on rules of origin and digital trade, with convergence also visible in areas such as competition, innovation, labor, gender and environmental tracks.
Furthermore, the ministry stated that Australia proposed holding the inaugural meeting of the India-Australia Agri Tech Forum (IAATF), a newly constituted forum by Australia, in New Delhi on September 23. The meeting will involve Indian agricultural stakeholders, including industry representatives, research institutions, and government officials.
The objective of the meeting is to build on mutually beneficial relationships by exploring opportunities for focused activities around technology transfer and knowledge sharing in the agriculture and horticulture sectors.
Australia is a significant trading partner for India in the Oceania region, with merchandise trade between the two nations reaching approximately $24 billion in 2023-24. India’s exports to Australia stood at $7.9 billion, while imports were $16.1 billion. Since 2021-22, trade between the two countries has been hovering around the $25 billion mark. Despite the ECTA coming into force in December 2022, there has not been a substantial increase in the exchange of goods, and gains in services are yet to be quantified.