India, Australia to hold 9th round of CECA talks on Sept 21

Officials say both sides have failed to reach any consensus on agriculture and services trade

To speed up the conclusion of the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement, India and Australia will hold another round of negotiations on September 21. Both are yet to reach a consensus on agricultural issues and services trade.

After the meeting of the chief negotiators, commerce and industries minister Nirmala Sitharaman is expected to hold a round of negotiations with counterpart Andrew Robb in New Delhi at a later date.

Both sides have been meeting almost every month to further the talks started in 2011, based on the mandate given by prime ministers Narendra Modi and Tony Abbott.

According to India, it will not be able to give Australia much access to its dairy market.

Australia has demanded duty-free access to India’s dairy market.

It has also asked greater access to Indian markets for its wine and meat products.

India has been demanding greater access for its professionals into Australia. This requires a relaxed business visa regime and signing of mutual recognition agreements (MRAs).

Australia has recently signed a free trade agreement with China, where it has offered massive rate reduction on a wide range of products.

It believes it can “offer more” to India if the latter also agrees to “open up,” according to a senior Australian official.

Bilateral trade between Australia and India stands at around $15 billion. However, Australia-China trade has reached $160 billion last year.

Australia has the largest pool of funds at over $2.6 trillion under management in Asia which it intends to invest around the world. India is also seeking a portion of this, which is the third largest worldwide.

A mutually beneficial CECA has the potential to facilitate the flow of this money.

According to Robb, concluding the CECA with India by the set deadline of December 2015 is presently his “number one priority.” Both sides have also vowed to achieve bilateral trade worth $40 billion in goods by 2020.