Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s visit to India is expected to provide a crucial leg-up to discussions on a free trade agreement between the two nations.
While a final agreement may not be on the cards during the four-day visit beginning Sunday, discussions on tariff reduction and market access in services are expected to move forward. The issues had proved to be major sticking points in the proposed Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement, talks on which had begun in 2011.
Nine rounds of negotiations have been completed to liberalise the trade and services regime, besides removing non-tariff barriers and