Economic pact with Australia not to be inked during Malcolm Turnbull's visit

NEW DELHI: The much-anticipated economic pact between India and Australia will not be inked during the India visit of Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull from Sunday.

Turnbull will arrive here on April 9 on a four-day visit during which he will hold talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on ways to enhance cooperation in key areas of energy, defence and security as well as trade.

"The Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement ( CECA) will not be signed during this visit. Negotiations are underway but the pact will not be signed," Australia's High Commissioner to India Harinder Sidhu told reporters here.

The talks for CECA were launched in 2011 and during the visit of former Australian PM Tony Abbott in 2014, the two sides had expressed the hope that the pact would be inked by the end of 2015, a deadline which has already been missed.

Describing India as one of Australia's most important international priorities, the envoy said the two sides are taking forward an active and ambitious agenda established under the Strategic Partnership.