Signing FTA is priority for Australia, says Deputy High Commissioner

Australian Deputy High Commissioner Rod Hilton on Thursday said that Canberra would continue to ‘prioritise conclusion’ of Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with India.

With elections round the corner in both India and Australia, it may take some time for the FTA to be signed. However, active negotiations to enhance trade ties would continue.

“Trade agreements are complicated. Both India and Australia have elections next year so there might be a slowdown in the process (of signing FTA),” he said at an interactive session organised by the Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

But FTA was not the only way to deepen trade relationships, he said adding that “we can do many things to deepen and diversify our relationships by focusing on negotiations.”

According to official statistics, India's exports to Australia stood at $4 billion in 2017-18, while imports were pegged at nearly $14 billion. Australia’s exports to India currently were highly tilted towards coal and natural gas, and attempts were on to diversify the product basket.

“We are trying to realign the export basket and diversify our products and services,” he pointed out.

The bilateral trade between the two countries grew by nearly 27 per cent between 2016 and 2017. Education, health, fin-tech, infrastructure, sports and associated areas and agribusiness are some of the key areas of focus for the countries, he said.

Drawing attention to a recent report, ‘An India Economic Strategy to 2035: Navigating from Potential to Delivery’ commissioned by the Australian government, he said there is likely to be a three-fold increase in Australia’s exports to India from $14.9 billion in 2017 to $45 billion by 2035 and a 10-fold jump in Australian investments in India from $10.3 billion in 2017 to over $100 billion by 2035.

Sees scope in West Bengal

According to Hilton, West Bengal has received only one per cent of Australia’s total investment of around $10.3 billion (2017) into India. However, there is a scope to enhance investments into the State.

The India economic strategy report identifies West Bengal as one of the top ten States which are likely to be of ‘particular interest’ to Australian businesses. The Australian government has also decided to reopen a consulate in Kolkata which was closed a few decades back owing to trade union issues.

Some of the key areas of cooperation between West Bengal and Australia would include energy and resources; mining operations and technology; agriculture and food processing; fisheries; education and healthcare among others, he said.

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