Australia today said it aims to sign a free trade agreement with India by the end of the year, with both countries recognising the pact's significance in boosting bilateral trade in the coming years.
"We are aiming to get the agreement by the end of the year. Once the agreement is reached, it is automatic that it will be signed. Sometimes there is a bit of legal work to be done. But the aim is to conclude our negotiations by the end of the year," Australian Minister for Trade & Investment Andrew Robb told reporters here.
Australia has already inked FTAs with China, Japan and Korea. The two-way trade between India and Australia stands at a relatively modest USD 15 billion a year compared with USD 150 billion for Australia's two-way trade with China.
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Asked whether he discussed the FTA issue with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Robb said: "We had a discussion about the significance of the free trade agreement and he (Modi) reaffirmed the unambiguous support that he has voiced publicly about the need to complete it, and complete it quickly".
"The Prime Minister (Modi) agreed that getting a framework around that commercial relationship such as the free trade agreement (FTA) will be a very important initiative to turbo-charge the commercial relationship that we have got with India," Robb said.
The talks for a comprehensive economic cooperation agreement (CECA) also known as free trade agreement (FTA) between India and Australia were started in 2011.
So far several rounds of negotiations have been completed for further liberalising and broadening the base of merchandise trade, removing non-tariff barriers and encouraging investments.
