New Delhi, 22 Nov: India and Australia would now implement the free trade agreement on a mutually agreed date as the Australian Parliament on Tuesday approved the pact between the two countries.
\n\u201cOur Free Trade Agreement with India has passed through parliament,\u201d Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said in a tweet. The India-Australia Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (AI-ECTA) needed ratification by the Australian parliament before its implementation. In India, such pacts are approved by the Union Cabinet. The agreement was signed between the two countries in April this year. Commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal said in a tweet: \u201cDelighted that India-Australia Economic Cooperation & Trade Agreement has been passed by the Australian Parliament.
\n\u201cA result of our deep friendship, it sets the stage for us to unleash the full potential of our trade ties & spur massive economic growth.\u201d
\nSpeaking at a function here on Tuesday, Goyal said that now the Australian government will take approval from their executive council and the ministry from the Union Cabinet here. These approvals, he said, is \u201cvery much doable\u201d quickly.
\nGoyal added that after then there will be harmonisation of codes and customs regime so that \u201cwe can enter into force at an early date\u201d.
\nThe deal is fair and good for India, he said.
\nThe minister asked the steel industry to take benefit of zero duty in the Australian market and push their exports.
\nLast week, the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties of Australia recommended the Australian government to ratify the pact.
\nAfter the ratification, both sides will decide a date to implement the pact and customs authorities will also issue a notification a day before the implementation.
\nMeanwhile, the Australian trade minister in a statement said that the ECTA will enter into force 30 days (or another mutually agreed time) after the respective parties have confirmed in writing that they have completed their domestic requirements.
\nAustralian exporters, businesses, workers and consumers will soon be able to reap the opportunities and benefits of more open trade with India with today\u2019s passage of implementing legislation through the Parliament, it said.
\n\u201cThe Albanese government has worked hard to expeditiously advance all processes necessary\u201d to ensure that Australia is in a position to implement the free trade agreements before the end of 2022, the statement said.
\nThe Australia-India Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (ECTA) is a great opportunity for Australian businesses as it will open up new markets to reach around 1.4 billion consumers in the world\u2019s fastest-growing major economy, it added.
\nAustralia\u2019s Minister for Trade and Tourism Don Farrell said that the agreement will support businesses to grow, to offer more employment opportunities, and will give Australian consumers more choice at the checkout.
\nHe further said that Australia will work closely with the Indian government to implement the trade agreement \u201cas soon as possible\u201d.
\nThe agreement, once implemented, will provide duty-free access to the Australian market for over 6,000 broad sectors of India, including textiles, leather, furniture, jewellery and machinery.
\nUnder the pact, Australia is offering zero-duty access to India for about 96.4 per cent of exports (by value) from day one. This covers many products that currently attract 4-5 per cent customs duty in Australia.
\nLabor-intensive sectors which would gain immensely include textiles and apparel, few agricultural and fish products, leather, footwear, furniture, sports goods, jewellery, machinery, electrical goods and railway wagons.
\nIndia\u2019s goods exports to Australia stood at USD 8.3 billion and imports from the country aggregated to USD 16.75 billion in 2021-22
\nGoyal had earlier stated that the agreement would help in taking the bilateral trade from USD 27.5 billion at present to USD 45-50 billion in the next five years. (PTI)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
New Delhi, 22 Nov: India and Australia would now implement the free trade agreement on a mutually agreed date as the Australian Parliament on Tuesday approved the pact between the two countries. \u201cOur Free Trade Agreement with India has passed through parliament,\u201d Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said in a tweet. The India-Australia Economic Cooperation […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-205414","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-national"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205414","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=205414"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205414\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=205414"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=205414"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=205414"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}