The Australia-India Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (AI-CECA) is a bilateral agreement between

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

and

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. The two nations launched negotiations for a Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement in May 2011. In September 2021, Australia and India formally re-launched CECA negotiations with the intention of quickly concluding an Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (ECTA) to swiftly liberalise and deepen bilateral trade in goods and services, and to then use this foundation to resume negotiations on the more ambitious CECA. On 2 April 2022, an interim agreement was signed by Ministers

Dan Tehan Daniel Thomas Tehan (; born 27 January 1968) is an Australian politician currently serving as the Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship. He is a member of the Liberal Party and has been a member of the House of Representatives since t ...

, representing the

Morrison government The Morrison government was the Australian Government, federal executive government of Australia, led by Prime Minister of Australia, Prime Minister Scott Morrison of the Liberal Party of Australia, between 2018 and 2022. The Morrison governmen ...

of Australia, and

Piyush Goyal Piyush Vedprakash Goyal (born 13 June 1964) is an Indian politician who is serving as Ministry of Commerce and Industry (India), Minister of Commerce and Industry since 2019. He also served as Minister of Textiles (India), Minister of Textiles ...

, representing the

Modi Government The premiership of Narendra Modi began 26 May 2014 with his First swearing-in ceremony of Narendra Modi, swearing-in as the Prime Minister of India, prime minister of India at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. He succeeded Manmohan Singh of the Indian N ...

of India. The agreement cuts

tariffs A tariff or import tax is a duty imposed by a national government, customs territory, or supranational union on imports of goods and is paid by the importer. Exceptionally, an export tax may be levied on exports of goods or raw materials and is ...

on a range of Australian exports to India, including coal, lentils, sheep meat and wool, lobsters and rare earths. It also promises a phased reduction of tariffs on wine and other agricultural products, including avocados, cherries, nuts, blueberries, almonds, oranges, mandarins, pears and strawberries. "We are opening the biggest door of one of the biggest economies in the world in India," Prime Minister

Scott Morrison Scott John Morrison (born 13 May 1968) is an Australian former politician who served as the 30th prime minister of Australia from 2018 to 2022. He held office as leader of the Liberal Party of Australia, leader of the Liberal Party and was ...

said ahead of the signing. Minister Tehan predicted the agreement would lead to a doubling of trade in coming years. "India and Australia are natural partners. Like two brothers, both nations supported each other during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. Our relationship rests on the pillars of trust and reliability", Minister Goyal said.'Historic' trade agreement with India signed after decade of negotiations
abc.net.au; 2 April, 2022

References

External links

Australia-India Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (AI-CECA)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Economic Partnership Agreement Free trade agreements of Australia Free trade agreements of India Bilateral relations of Australia

See also

References

External links