Union Minister of Commerce & Industry, Piyush Goyal with Australian Minister for Trade and Tourism, Don Farrell during a joint press briefing on India-Australia 18th Joint Ministerial Commission, in New Delhi on March 11, 2023.
| Photo Credit: ANI
Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal and his Australian counterpart Don Farrell on March 11 announced the formal resumption of negotiation for the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) which will cover a “much wider” area of commercial cooperation.
Announcing the negotiation, Mr. Goyal said the two sides should aim for a massive boost in bilateral trade, and that critical minerals from Australia can play a major role in creating a pollution-free environment in Indian cities.
“We both welcomed the resumption of negotiations after the ECTA (Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement), which was the first stage of our economic engagement. We are now entering into phase two of our discussion, where we are looking at a much wider ambit of subjects in taking us into a Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement,” Mr. Goyal said, formally announcing resumption of dialogue for CECA.
“India suffers from a serious scarcity of critical minerals. Australia, on the other hand, has a huge deposit of critical minerals that is used for manufacturing batteries. There are many countries that are taking critical minerals from Australia and are using that to run their economies. We too should plan ahead, for example in batteries for electric vehicles, we will require the rare earth minerals,” Mr. Goyal said, arguing that India and Australia should aim for $100 billion trade between the two sides.
He recalled that India and Australia had worked closely during the pandemic years and had been close partners in the Indo-Pacific region.
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Speaking at the conclusion of the India-Australia 18th Joint Ministerial Commission with Mr. Farrell, Mr. Goyal said the Minister for Resources and Northern Australia, Madeleine King, had discussed the issue with the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Coal and Mines, Pralhad Joshi, on Friday. The Goyal-Farrell talks were held as the visit of Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese came to an end, with the Australian leader leaving for the United States where he will meet British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and U.S. President Joe Biden. Mr. Albanese had announced on Friday that he expected the negotiation for CECA to be completed “as soon as possible”.
Mr. Goyal and Mr. Farrel informed that the “CECA negotiation will be held in the same spirit as the two sides held the ECTA negotiation”. India and Australia concluded an interim trade pact, the ECTA, which came into force on December 29, 2022. The two trade Ministers said that they would negotiate for CECA “speedily” without compromising on the quality of the agreement.
“Madeleine King and Pralhad Joshi discussed in great detail how India can bring critical minerals from Australia so that the ecosystem of the electric vehicles is strengthened in India,” Mr. Goyal said, indicating that Australian critical minerals could one day could power electric vehicles to rid India’s national capital of vehicular pollution.
Mr. Farrell and Ms. King accompanied Mr. Albanese on his visit to India.
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