NEW DELHI: India and Australia on Thursday set an ambitious 30-day deadline to finalize an interim agreement for a long-awaited bilateral trade deal that has got a fresh lease of life in the last few months due to growing strategic relations between the two countries.
After his meeting with visiting Australian trade minister Dan Tehancommerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal said that the two trading partners would look to seal a full-fledged agreement within 12-18 months of the early harvest scheme being finalised.
Tehan said that Australia was looking at greater people-to-people movement, in an indication to easier visa rules, as well as collaborating on minerals and rare earth. Following a trade deal with India, nearly 90% of Australia’s total trade would be covered by FTAs, he said.
“I can assure you that you have a very very strong partnership in the making which will be finalized over the next 30 odd days. That is the kind of aggressive timelines that minister Tehan and I have set for our teams today… I can assure you that both the teams are going to have sleepless nights in the next 30 days and I am quite confident that we will come up with some very exciting news for businesses of both the countries,” Goyal said.
He said that it will be the fastest negotiated FTA that has ever been done by India or by Australia.
Early harvest agreement “covers a very wide span of issues and in some sense covers most areas of interest that both countries have,” he said, adding few sensitive issues would remain for the CECA. Tehan said, “We want a quick but high quality agreement”.
After his meeting with visiting Australian trade minister Dan Tehancommerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal said that the two trading partners would look to seal a full-fledged agreement within 12-18 months of the early harvest scheme being finalised.
Tehan said that Australia was looking at greater people-to-people movement, in an indication to easier visa rules, as well as collaborating on minerals and rare earth. Following a trade deal with India, nearly 90% of Australia’s total trade would be covered by FTAs, he said.
“I can assure you that you have a very very strong partnership in the making which will be finalized over the next 30 odd days. That is the kind of aggressive timelines that minister Tehan and I have set for our teams today… I can assure you that both the teams are going to have sleepless nights in the next 30 days and I am quite confident that we will come up with some very exciting news for businesses of both the countries,” Goyal said.
He said that it will be the fastest negotiated FTA that has ever been done by India or by Australia.
Early harvest agreement “covers a very wide span of issues and in some sense covers most areas of interest that both countries have,” he said, adding few sensitive issues would remain for the CECA. Tehan said, “We want a quick but high quality agreement”.
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