India and Australia aim to achieve USD 100-billion trade in the next five years, a significant jump from the current USD 30-billion dollar trade between the two nations.
Addressing the media in New Delhi on India-Australia 18th Joint Ministerial Commission with Australian Trade and Tourism Minister Don Farrell, Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said that tremendous talents at government, business, and people-to-people levels between the two countries can make a significant difference in the world. He added that the resumption of the negotiations for the second stage of the Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (ECTA) have taken the India-Australia collaboration on a much wider level. The ECTA was signed last year, on 2nd April, 2022 after Ratification and Exchange of Written Instruments.The two countries are now negotiating to expand its scope for a Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA). All this brings together two major economies of the world – India the 5th largest economy and Australia the 14th largest economy – on a shared path of mutual growth and development.
Currently, the ECTA covers the following major areas:
Trade in Goods; Trade in Services; Rules of Origin; Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) and Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) measures; Customs Procedures and Trade Facilitation; Trade Remedies; Legal & institutional Issues, and Movement of Natural Persons.
India and Australia are now looking to further capitalise on the win-win opportunities in innovation, defence, space technology, education, and energy systems. While Australia is a preferred destination for higher education for most Indians, the CECA negotiations have paved the way for resolution of a big obstacle for India’s IT sector to grow in Australia. The talks have contributed to widespread development of multi-sectoral economic value chains, creating win-win opportunities for the two countries.
