New Australian govt supports trade pact with India: Goyal

The new Australian government supports the trade pact signed with India, and they are expected to soon approach their parliament for approval of the agreement, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has said.

India-Australia Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (ECTA) signed in April needs ratification by the Australian parliament before its implementation.

''I met minister Mr. Don Farrell, who looks after trade in the new (Australian) government, and he has confirmed that they will be taking the Indus-ECTA to parliament very soon and they support the agreement and would like to further expand their engagement with India in the months and years to come,'' Goyal told PTI.

The agreement, once implemented, will provide duty-free access to the Australian market for over 6,000 broad sectors of India, including textiles, leather, furniture, jewelry, and machinery.

Goyal had earlier said that the agreement would help in taking bilateral trade from USD 27.5 billion at present to USD 45-50 billion in the next five years.

Under the pact, Australia is offering zero-duty access to India for about 96.4 percent of exports (by value) from day one. This covers many products that currently attract 4-5 percent customs duty in Australia.

Labor-intensive sectors, which would gain immensely include textiles and apparel, a few agricultural and fish products, leather, footwear, furniture, sports goods, jewelry, machinery, electrical goods, and railway wagons.

Australia is the 17th largest trading partner of India, while New Delhi is Canberra's 9th largest partner. India's goods exports were worth USD 6.9 billion and imports aggregated to USD 15.1 billion in 2021.