Australia on Wednesday said the long-drawn negotiations for the proposed free trade agreement (FTA) with India to boost two-way commerce are expected to conclude by the first half of this year. The talks for a comprehensive economic cooperation agreement (CECA) also known as FTA between India and Australia were started in 2011 to provide fillip to both trade and investments between the two countries.
Australia Minister for Trade and Investment Andrew Robb said that he and Indian Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman took stock of the progress of talks in Nairobi in December last year.
“We sat down in Nairobi, we had a long session with their officials and the minister and we took stock at where we were and how much longer we could expect and we both agreed that and the officials concurred that in the first half of the year (2016) we can finish this,” Robb told PTI. “So that's the objective and I don't think anything has happened since. In fact we got our work done in January and now in February they (officials) are meeting again on some very important issues,” he added.
Both the sides were expecting to conclude the negotiations last year only but there were differences on areas like duty cut in dairy and wines. Several rounds of negotiations have been completed for liberalising trade and services regime besides removing non-tariff barriers and encouraging investments.
Australia is pushing for tariff reduction in dairy, fresh fruit, pharma, meats and wines. On the other hand, India wants zero duty on auto parts, textiles, and fresh fruits, including mangoes and greater access in services sector.