| Date: |
11-05-2011 |
| Subject: |
India And Australia To Open Trade Talks |
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India and Australia have agreed to open negotiations towards a free trade agreement (FTA), Australian Minister for Trade Craig Emerson announced last week.
The announcement continues a rush by governments towards bilateral trade deals, now that global trade negotiations at the WTO appear stalled. The U.S. Congress is now considering bilateral FTAs with South Korea, Panama and Colombia.
"India is an enormous, rapidly expanding market for Australian businesses and negotiations for a high-quality trade deal are central to the Gillard Government’s wider plans for greater economic integration between our two countries," Emerson said.
Emerson is scheduled to meet India’s commerce and trade minister Dr. Anand Sharma on May 12 in Canberra, Australia to discuss the negotiations.
With a population of 1.2 billion, India’s economy has been growing at an average rate of 7% per year in recent years. It is now Australia’s third largest export market with exports growing at a rate of 22% per year in the past four years.
The trade in agricultural products between the two countries is “modest,” the two governments noted in a feasibility study released May 4 by India’s Commerce Ministry. Agricultural trade between India and Australia reached $456 million in 2008-09, with India’s exports expanding by more than 15% per annum in recent years.
The study says this two-way trade in agricultural products will expand once a trade agreement is concluded.
“Mutually advantageous opportunities in the agricultural trade relationship are only likely to grow,” the study’s authors said.
“Due to changing structure of demand, India is likely to become a more regular importer of certain food items, some of which Australia will be well placed to provide, such as high-value dairy products. In addition, as India’s food processing sector continues to expand and look for export opportunities, Australian inputs (potentially facilitated under an FTA) could become an increasingly important part of India’s supply chain.”
Source : feedstuffs.com
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