Australia's trade minister to visit India to advance FTA negotiations

An official statement by Tehan's office on Tuesday said he will travel to India to advance negotiations on a free trade agreement and promote Australia as a premium destination for students, tourist

Commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal will have several meetings with Aust­ra­lia’s trade, tourism and investment minister Dan Tehan to advance negotiations on the Compre­hensive Economic Coope­ration Agr­ee­ment (CECA) between both nations.

An official statement by Tehan’s office on Tuesday said he will travel to India to advance negotiations on a free trade agreement (FTA) and promote Australia as a premium destination for students and tourists.

“Mr Goyal and I have been in regular contact over the Christmas/New Year period because we are both committed to concluding an interim free trade agreement. Nothing can replace face-to-face meetings to help speed up the process in the interest of both countries. Australia and India are important trading partners, and we share a strong desire to further enhance our bilateral trade relationship,” an official statement said.

India and Australia had set a tight deadline of concluding an early harvest agreement — a precursor to FTA or CECA in this case — by December 25, as more work needed to be done towards the deal.

Sources said the meeting between the ministers was crucial as both nations were yet to agree on respective demand lists. The proposed deal is likely to include lower tariff and greater market access for Indian exporters in areas such as textiles, pharmaceuticals, footwear, leat­her. On the other hand, Austr­alia is seeking lower tariffs for dairy products, milk, premium wines, among other items.

“CECA is a potential game-changer in opening opportunities for both Australia and India. It is also an important piece of our post-Covid economic recovery,” Tehan said.