Australia-India FTA Talks To Begin Again From Monday In Sydney: Report

The chief negotiators from both countries will reportedly engage in talks for the FTA from tomorrow and finalise several chapters of the agreement

The interim pact, the Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (ECTA), was implemented in December 2022. (Image Source: Unsplash)

Source : Unsplash

India and Australia will initiate the next round of discussions for the comprehensive free trade agreement (FTA) from August 19, 2024, in Sydney, media reports said. The chief negotiators from both countries will reportedly engage in talks for the FTA from tomorrow and finalise several chapters of the agreement.

A report by PTI cited officials in the know and said that an interim pact has already been put in place between the two nations and now they are initiating talks to expand the scope under the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA).

The interim pact, the Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (ECTA), was implemented in December 2022. The tenth round of negotiations between the two countries is set for August 19-22 and will be held in Sydney, the report noted.

Citing an official from the commerce ministry, the report stated, “Out of the total 19 areas of the agreement, we have completed our discussions on four chapters, and we are in very advanced stages in a few others. We hope that in this round, we should be able to close altogether, maybe more than 10 chapters.”

The upcoming round will revolve around market access in goods and services. The ECTA currently allows duty-free access to Indian exporters of more than 6,000 broad sectors, such as textiles, furniture, jewellery, leather, and machinery in the Australian market.

As part of the ECTA, Australia has permitted zero-duty access to India for nearly 96.4 per cent of exports. Meanwhile, the CECA includes a detailed engagement on goods, services, digital trade, government procurement, and rules of origin, as agreed under the ECTA.

Notably, in 2023-24, the trade between India and Australia touched almost $24 billion. India’s exports to Australia in FY24 reached $7.94 billion, while imports stood at $16.15 billion. Ever since 2021-22, the trade between the two nations has been inching near $25 billion.