Chief negotiators from India and Australia will begin their next round of discussions on a comprehensive free trade agreement (FTA) in Sydney on Monday. Significant progress is anticipated, with both parties likely to finalise several chapters of the agreement.
The two nations are building on an interim agreement, the Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (ECTA), which became effective in December 2022. The upcoming negotiations, set for August 19-22, will mark the tenth round of talks.
“Out of the total 19 areas of the agreement, we have completed our discussions on four chapters, and we are in very advanced stages in a few others. We hope that in this round, we should be able to close altogether, maybe more than 10 chapters,” a commerce ministry official said, reports PTI.
The current round of talks will focus on market access for goods and services. The ECTA allows Indian exporters duty-free access to over 6,000 categories in Australia, such as textiles, leather, furniture, jewellery, and machinery. In exchange, Australia has granted zero-duty access for approximately 96.4 percent of its exports to India.
The Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) is designed to enhance engagement in five key areas: goods, services, digital trade, government procurement, and rules of origin, building on the ECTA framework. Additionally, India and Australia have identified 15 new areas, including space, mining, and sports, for negotiation under the comprehensive FTA. This marks the first time such sectors will be included in a trade agreement negotiated by India.
Australia is a significant trade partner for India within the Oceania region, with trade between the two countries reaching about $24 billion in the 2023-24 fiscal year. India’s exports to Australia stood at $7.94 billion, while imports were $16.15 billion. Trade between the countries has remained around the $25 billion mark since the 2021-22 fiscal year.