New Delhi, Feb 11 (Bureau) India and Australia have decided to finalise an interim trade agreement in the next 30 days and conclude the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) in 12 months after the early harvest deal is operationalised. Early harvest deal refers to agreement on select items between two countries for trade and is a precursor to free trade agreement. In a media briefing here on Friday along with his Australian counterpart Dan Tehan, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal said, “Our teams should be in a position to come up with the interim agreement, the early harvest part of the final comprehensive economic partnership in the next 30 days.”
“We should conclude the final comprehensive economic partnership (with Australia), maybe in 12 months or so, after the interim agreement is operationalised,” Goyal further said. The Minister said that the bilateral trade with Australia currently stands at 20 billion dollar and the trade agreement would open new areas for trade and business from both sides. He said that during trade negotiations between the two countries so far, several areas have been covered across goods and services, rules of origin, sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures and customs procedures among others. Goyal also said that a lot of work is going on to fine tune the final document which would open huge opportunities for both people and businesses in both the countries. “The discussions took place in a very informal manner, very friendly manner with a great deal of openness and a great deal of concern for the sensitivities on both sides to specific areas where Australia may have sensitivities or India may have sensitivities. We have accommodated each other, respected each other’s sensitivities,” Goyal said.