India-Australia CECA talks likely to resume on April 23

Australia's Trade and Investment Minister Andrew Robb to arrive in Mumbai on April 21

India and Australia are likely to resume the stalled negotiations for a Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) next week. The talks, started in 2011, have been in limbo since January this year, owing to differences over offering duty-free access to Australian agricultural goods and investment protection.

Australia’s Trade and Investment Minister Andrew Robb, who will visit India for the talks, is expected to arrive in Mumbai on Monday. He will be in Delhi on Wednesday and is expected to meet Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Minister of State for Commerce and Industry (Independent Charge) Nirmala Sitharaman.

So far, six rounds of talks have been held between India and Australia over the CECA. There have been no negotiations since the Narendra Modi-led government came to power in May last year.

Australia had been aggressively pushing to have the trade deal with India.

This will be Robb’s third visit in the past 10 months. He had informal talks with Nirmala Sitharaman on the sidelines of the Confederation of Indian Industry Partnership Summit held in Jaipur in January.

“We need to reverse the decline and rectify the imbalance by increasing India’s exports to Australia. We’re looking forward to an equitable and mutually beneficial CECA,” a senior commerce department official told Business Standard.

Talks to conclude the CECA got stalled in 2013. This was after the finance minister told the commerce ministry that the investment chapters in all trade deals that were in the pipeline could only be discussed after the finalisation of the model text of a Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement.

Australia is keen to invest in India’s pharmaceutical, information technology, agriculture, and education sectors.

India is expected to raise the problem of widening trade deficit with Australia. While India’s export to Australia stood at $2.3 billion, its imports from there reached $9.82 billion in 2013-2014.

India had been trying to achieve greater market access in Australia for its generics and bulk drugs. Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Act, 1989, now allows preferential treatment to imported drugs.

Australia, on the other hand, had been keen on getting duty-free access for its dairy products. However, India had been reluctant to show relaxation in this as this sector employs a huge number of people and is considered to be a sensitive sector where industry is still in a nascent stage.

Earlier, both sides had said the talks would be concluded by December this year.