New Delhi: India and Australia on Saturday expressed their resolve to conclude negotiations for expanding the scope of the existing free trade agreement by the end of this year with an aim to increase the bilateral trade to $100 billion in the next five years.

The issue came up for discussion during a meeting of the 18th joint ministerial commission between Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal and his Australian counterpart Don Farrell, who accompanied Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on his official visit to India.

Addressing the media, Goyal said both India and Australia were not satisfied with the $30 billion trade between the two nations. The two countries have some critical talents at government, business, and people-to-people levels and together they could make a tremendous difference in the world.

He said the two nations have welcomed the resumption of the negotiations for the second stage of the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA), where they could collaborate and cooperate with each other on a much wider level.

He added the two nations were working together like brothers on a wide variety of subjects. He highlighted that India and Australia shared democratic values including the rule of law, and transparent systems and the two countries complement each other.

Goyal also stated that the two nations were looking to capitalise on the win-win opportunities in innovation, defence, space technology, education, and energy systems. The focus was on leveraging each other’s competencies for mutual interests and growth.

Agencies

KR Desk