India and Australia agree to early harvest trade pact by December-end

New Delhi, Aug 27 (UNI) India and Australia expect an ‘early harvest’ pact by December-end to expand bilateral trade and investment flows.

This was agreed in a meeting held on August 26 between the Commerce & Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and his Australian counterpart Dan Tehan MP, Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment.

Under an early harvest arrangement, trading partners significantly reduce or eliminate customs duties on a limited number of goods in order to promote and expedite bilateral trade.

India’s exports to Australia was US$ 2.85 billion in FY20.

During the virtual meeting held through a video conference on August 26, the Indian and the Australian Ministers appreciated the progress made in three rounds of talks between the chief trade negotiators of both sides and discussed the way forward for an early conclusion of a bilateral Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA). “In this regard, the Ministers directed officials to speed up the negotiations and to meet as often as required to achieve an early harvest announcement by December 2021 on an interim agreement to liberalize and deepen bilateral trade in goods and services, and pave the way for a comprehensive agreement,” a joint statement said.

The Ministers noted the importance that negotiations take into account the views of business, industry and other stakeholders, and decided to start consultations on the potential opportunities and impacts of an interim agreement as a pathway to a full CECA.

India is closely engaging with the UK, European Union, Canada, UAE and Australia for early conclusion of free trade agreements (FTAs).