India, Australia agree to sign a Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement by 2022 end

India and Australia on Thursday agreed to sign a Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) by the end of 2022 preceded by an interim agreement before Christmas this year.

The comprehensive agreement will cover trade in goods and services, and a pact on investments as well.

Both sides will exchange offers on the proposed deal by October end, the visiting Australian minister for trade, tourism and investment Dan Tehan said, addressing the media along with commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal after the 17th meeting of India-Australia Joint Ministerial Commission.

“What we agreed today is to make sure that we will conclude a Free Trade Agreement between India and Australia by the end of 2022,” Tehan said, adding that the interim agreement will be consistent with article 14 of the World Trade Organisation.

“We will begin discussing govt procurement, energy and resources, logistics and transport, standards and rules of origin. We have agreed to exchange offers by the end of October,” Tehan added.

A joint statement said Goyal and Tehan had formally launched the resumption of negotiations on the India-Australia CECA.

Goyal said prime ministers of both the countries had met in the US and laid out a roadmap for taking the India-Australian trade and economic affairs partnership to next level and escalate it to a comprehensive economic trade partnership.

“We have set out some ambitious timelines and targets to meet and we agreed that both negotiating teams will take immediate steps towards very important outcomes to expanding India-Australia trading relationship,” Goyal told reporters.

Both sides will set up dedicated negotiating teams to meet the timelines, Tehan said.

The statement said both ministers discussed a range of issues during the 17th India-Australia Joint Ministerial Commission meeting including resolution of tax-related issues faced by Indian software firms in Australia.

Both ministers also agreed to work towards an ambitious and balanced outcome at the 12th WTO Ministerial Conference in Geneva, Switzerland, to be held at the end of this year.

India’s exports to Australia amounted to $4.04 billion while imports were $8.24 billion in FY21.

Major Indian exports to Australia are petroleum products, medicines, polished diamonds, gold jewellery, apparel etc, while key Australian exports to India include coal, LNG, alumina and non-monetary gold.

In services, major Indian exports include travel, telecom and computer, government and financial services, while Australian services exports were principally in education and personal travel.

In 2020, India was Australia’s seventh-largest trading partner and sixth largest export destination, driven by coal and international education.