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The proposed India-Australia Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) should expand the range of goods available in India, strengthen Indian supply chains, and advances its green transition, according to Australian High Commission to India Philip Green.
“We have had some good rounds of negotiation. We have a lot of text settled. We know India is focused at present on getting to the finish line with the UK. We are ready to conclude our second phase in due course – but our focus will be on ambition – a good deal, not any deal,” Green said in his address at the Asia Society Policy Institute India.
The High Commissioner pointed out that the Australia-India Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (ECTA), implemented last December, was already delivering good results. “India’s utilisation rate for goods under our agreement is 77 per cent – around triple what it is for some of India’s other free trade agreements. We have seen Australian imports of India’s agricultural goods increase by 16 per cent, and imports of Indian apparel increase by 9 per cent…Our CECA agreement will take this even further and faster to deliver for Australian and Indian businesses,” he said.
“In five years, I want to see our trajectory continue on migration, tourism, education, and the intermingling of our people,” Green added.
Collaboration opportunities
On the opportunities for collaboration opened in the critical minerals sector, the High Commissioner pointed out that the ECTA eliminated tariffs on most of the critical minerals needed for solar panels, electric cars, wind turbines, mobiles and more. “And our CECA, which we are now negotiating, will boost supply chains for the minerals India needs to drive its manufacturing and exports,” he said.
Highlighting the opportunities in the education sector, Green said that while Australia continued to attract a high number of Indian students, it need not be a one-way street. “Next year Australia’s Deakin and Wollongong Universities will be the first foreign universities to set up campuses in India – opening a new chapter in our education ties…They won’t be the last, either. India’s readiness to host foreign branch campuses is driving interest among many other Australian universities,” he said.
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