Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal will be in the UK this week for talks with his counterpart Elizabeth Truss, while Australian Trade Minister Dan Tehan is due in the capital at the end of the month to take the talks forward. Although discussions are still at an exploratory stage, the Center has begun to mark red zones, many of which could prove controversial as talks progress.
For example, in an interview, Rishi Sunak, the Chancellor of the UK Exchequer, had indicated to TOI that his government is keen to liberalize services by both countries. While India’s interest is in Mode IV – the pitch will open up for the UK for its technical professionals, visas for doctors and nurses, legal services and such “barred areas”.
When it comes to some of the earlier no-go areas like lower tariffs on Scotch, there are indications that India will be more liberal in its stance than before, hopefully it manages to give the UK easier access to Indian textiles. Will do and engineering stuff.
Similarly, when it comes to Australia, the government is willing to work in areas such as coal where imports for power plants are happening in any case. But dairy is one area that has proved to be a red zone, as seen during the aborted talks for the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership.rc e p) agreement, where India withdrew at the last minute.
For Australia, dairy has been a major area of interest, but India has been wary of cutting tariffs, especially on products such as skimmed milk powder, given its potential adverse impact on the domestic economy. Unlike large farms in Australia, there are millions of small farmers in the Indian dairy sector.
What leads to talks with the UK, Australia as well as the EU is that almost half of the goods India exports are already in the zero-tariff category, with some items from these countries in their There are defensive interests where customs duty is applicable. .
While it is still early days, the stance taken by the negotiators evolves as the talks progress, depending on what the other side wants to put on the table. In addition, discussions for free trade agreements must also be viewed in the context of the new geopolitical alignment taking place in the post-Covid world.
Noting that ties with Australia have strengthened over the past few months: canberra The U.S. has signaled it wants to rely less on China, with the government hoping to have what it calls an early harvest plan by December, which covers about half of tariff lines. But with elections being held in Australia, it is unlikely that the trade deal can be ratified. Parliament At least until the second half of the year.
In any case, the Government’s eagerness for such an agreement is not shared by some of the other parties, such as The European Union, which is another focus partner for a trade and investment pact.
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