Pact to open up more sectors, says Australia
NEW DELHI: The interim, or early harvest, free trade pact signed by India and Australia this month is only a “first-stage deal” that will create confidence for opening up more opportunities, and the Indian side is set to get “front-row access” to Australia’s vast reserves of rare earth minerals, Australian high commissioner Barry O’Farrell on Monday said.
While acknowledging that agriculture continues to be a sensitive issue for both countries, O’Farrell said enhanced economic cooperation across diverse areas will help build the understanding needed to open up more sectors.
The Quad nations India, Australia, Japan and the US were brought together by the Covid-19 pandemic accentuating some negative trends that existed in the world, he said.
The Australia-India Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (ECTA) signed on Saturday is a “first-stage deal” and there is “clearly much more that can be done”, O’Farrell said at an event organised by the Australia India Institute.
“I’m confident that deal will start, at a commercial level, building the confidence needed that will open up even more opportunities for both countries”
“Agriculture is... sensitive in Australia, it’s sensitive in India... Once we start cooperating in areas across our diverse economic sectors, once people understand that Australian wines are not going to crush Indian wines, that our products are going to be at different price points, then we will see greater and greater economic cooperation,” he added.
ECTA provides zero duty exports to 100% tariff lines from India to the Australian market, benefits labour-intensive sectors and provides greater access to the services space.
Indian consumers and businesses are set to benefit from immediate elimination of tariffs on 85% of Australian exports to India, and Australian consumers will benefit from almost 96% of Indian exports entering duty free.
India and Australia had last year set a target for concluding talks on a comprehensive economic cooperation agreement (CECA) by the end of 2022.