Minister of Commerce and Industry, Piyush Goyal and the Australian Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment, Dan Tehan. Piyush Goyal and Dan Tehan were addressing a joint press conference after the conclusion of the 3-day talks in New Delhi today. It is expected that the India-Australia Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) will be concluded in the 12 months thereafter.
Speaking on the occasion, the Union Minister of Commerce Piyush Goyal recalled watching the movie ‘Dil Chahta Hai’, which was partially shot in Australia and portrayed a strong bond of friendship among three friends. He said that the ever-growing India-Australia relationship exhibits a similar kind of strong bond as was shown in the movie. He further said that CECA FTA is like ‘Dil Chahta Hai FTA’ and represents the hope, aspiration and ambition of the people of the two nations.
The two countries are expected to sign the ‘Interim Agreement’ in March this year. The areas covered under the interim agreement will include rules of origin, goods and services, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, customs procedure, legal and institutional issues. Both the ministers agreed on the need for a balanced trade agreement that will encourage expanded trade and investment flows, which will benefit the economies of both nations and will reflect a shared commitment to the rules-based international trading system.
The Union Minister said that he had very fruitful discussions with his Australian counterpart and significant developments have been made in proceeding with the Free Trade Agreement between the two countries. Goyal stressed that India and Australia made natural partners and both the countries complemented each other in multiple ways. The Minister informed that the discussions between the two nations took place with openness, concern and sensitivity for the issues on both sides.
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The Minister termed the negotiations as a watershed moment in India-Australia bilateral relationship. He thanked the Prime Ministers of both the nations, for their leadership, guidance and support. He then complimented the officers from both the nations who worked hard and proactively to come up with a comprehensive economic partnership which will be a win-win situation for both the countries and will open up huge opportunities for the people of India and Australia.
The Union Minister said that the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) would be a sizeable opportunity for the economies of both the countries and a significant moment in the Indian Australian bilateral relationship. Both the Ministers agreed that a balanced trade agreement is needed that encourages expanded trade and investment flows to the benefit of both of the economies. They stressed that the agreement reflects a shared commitment by the governments of the two nations to the rules-based international trading system. The ministers jointly agreed to the speedy resolution of the tax-related issues faced by Indian software firms in Australia.
Quad has brought the four countries (namely USA, India, Australia, and Japan) closer and it had also enabled India and Australia to come closer to each other in economic relations as well, said Goyal while responding to a question.
Meanwhile, Dan Tehan announced that Australia would be open to international travellers from the 21st of February 2022 and extended his invitation to the Indians to visit Australia. The Minister opined that as a result of the Memorandum of Understanding, the tourism flow between the two countries will continue to grow and that it will prove to be highly beneficial for the growth of the educational relationship between the two nations.
Dan Tehan expressed confidence that the interim agreement would be a significant milestone in the relationship between the two nations. He said that the warmth of the relationship between the two nations and the honesty and transparency with which the negotiations have taken place would certainly help build very strong and robust economic ties.
