India & Australia to Conclude Talks for Expanding Scope of FTA By 2023; Discusses Sanitary & Phyto-Sanitary Issues

Both countries also agreed to aim for USD 100 billion in bilateral trade. Don Farrell, Australia's Minister for Trade and Tourism, who is accompanying Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on an official visit to New Delhi, said the two countries "can achieve" this goal.

On December 29, last year, India and Australia implemented an economic cooperation and trade agreement (ECTA) and are now negotiating to broaden the scope of the agreement for a comprehensive economic cooperation agreement (CECA). ECTA was the initial stage of our economic engagement.

"We are now entering phase 2 of our discussions, in which we are looking at a much broader range of subjects and taking this into a CECA," Goyal told reporters at a joint press conference here. Both ministers have expressed "dissatisfaction" with trade negotiators and stated that they "will be much more ambitious and aim for a USD 100 billion trade between the two economies," he said.

According to Farrell, the two countries "can achieve" this goal. On the deadline for completing the CECA negotiations, Goyal stated that while anything done under a deadline is always "dangerous" because "you may end up making mistakes," "we" must do things quickly. He stated that both trade ministers are committed to expediting the negotiations.

Both the prime ministers have "collectively tasked us to work towards closing the CECA negotiations within this calender year. That would be fantastic. We would work in the same spirit as ECTA and hope for quick results without sacrificing quality," Goyal added.

He also stated that "we are very dissatisfied" with the USD 30-billion bilateral trade, and that India and Australia have set a target of USD 45-50 billion over the next five years. According to Goyal, there are numerous opportunities to expand cooperation in areas such as education, technology, audio-visual services, and sports.

While Australia has some "very" fine technologies, education institutes, and sports, he believes India can offer more in terms of talent pool, manufacturing base, and startup ecosystem. Concerning increased agri-trade with Australia, the Indian commerce minister stated that several areas of mutual interest are being considered by agriculture ministries on both sides to resolve sanitary and phyto-sanitary (plant and animal) problems.

Albanese stated that both countries are looking at firming up the ambitious CECA by 2023 following the first India-Australia summit talks here on March 10 on a range of key issues, while a joint statement stated that the two prime ministers tasked the concerned officials to expedite the conclusion of a Migration and Mobility Partnership Arrangement (MMPA) within the next three months. Goyal praised Australia for addressing Indian concerns in the agricultural and dairy sectors, which involve small and marginal farmers.

"We are looking at win-win opportunities in many areas, such as space technology, Australian education systems and critical minerals, energy storage systems developed in Australia, and sports. "Our focus has been on capitalizing on each other's comparative competitive advantages to increase trade," he added. According to Farrell, Australia possesses all of the critical minerals required to manufacture batteries for electric vehicles.

He also stated that Australia shipped goods worth USD 2.5 billion to India in the first month of the ECTA. Farrell went on to say that the Australian wine industry can come to India and help the Indian wine industry by sharing knowledge and quality. "I hope that in the coming months, we will be able to send our teams from the wine sector from India and invite teams from Australia to come in forging alliances with mutual cooperation," Goyal said.

Goyal added that because Australia has a long coastline, India can learn various water sports from it. Farrell responded to a question about whether Australia is considering including gender and sustainability issues in the CECA by saying that the country is considering these issues as part of the CECA. According to Goyal, India is open to negotiations and wants to engage with the rest of the world from a position of strength, learning from best practices.