NEW DELHI, Dec 13 : Australia is looking at achieving a “high-quality” Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) with India to ensure that it genuinely works towards broadening economic partnership, Australian High Commissioner Philip Green said on Wednesday.
Both sides are holding negotiations for an ambitious CECA that would build upon the existing Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (ECTA).
The ECTA was signed in April last year and it came into force in December 2022.
“Our focus is on making sure a high quality agreement and we are working to move ahead…Our focus is to make sure that the deal we reach genuinely works for the opportunities in our bilateral relations,” Green said.
The Australian envoy was speaking at an interactive session at the Asia Society Policy Institute.
Australia and India first launched negotiations for the CECA in May 2011.
There were nine negotiating rounds before both countries decided to suspend negotiations in 2016.
In September 2021, the two sides re-launched CECA negotiations with the intention of quickly concluding an ECTA.
In his address, Green spoke about various aspects of India-Australia relations including in the economic sphere.
“Now with the ECTA, our industries are partnering together across sectors like horticulture, wine, dairy, etc,” he said.
He also spoke about cooperation between the two countries in the area of clean energy.
“There can be no affordable, scalable renewable solutions without India. And there can be no Indian renewables solutions without inputs from Australia,” he said.
“Our ECTA sets up our industries well with the elimination of tariffs on most critical minerals inputs. But we need to be more focused,” the envoy said.
“The market for these critical minerals in Australia is hot, with North America, Europe and East Asia securing much of the offtake. I want Indian batteries being made with Australian lithium,” he said.
Green said there are opportunities for the two sides to further expand economic and trade engagement.
“I want Indian green steel being made with Australian green iron. I want Indian solar panels being made with Australian silicon. No one understands the complexity of mining and critical minerals supply chains like Australia,” he said.
“But to make this happen we need to work together so Indian companies can quickly secure the offtake needed to meet India’s domestic production goals,” he said.
“India has serious targets to decarbonise its steel sector and produce green steel. Australia and India are collaborating on research to make steel more efficient and less carbon intensive,” the envoy added. (PTI)
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