India, Australia working in Quad to ensure peace in Indo-pacific: Goyal

 

"We have been having a sea-saw of the negotiation over India-Australia Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (IndAus ECTA), for many years. Later with the blessing of Prime Minister Scott Morrison and PM Narendra Modi. It was finally decided that we must seriously engage and agree on how to take this comprehensive partnership which was launched by Prime Minister Scott Morrison and PM Narendra Modi in June 2020 to the next level and bring the economic dimension to our wonderful dimension," he said.

Goyal noted that India and Australia working closely together in Quad to ensure peace and stability and order in the Indo-pacific region especially geopolitical alignment.

"We already have the Quad where Japan Australia, US and India are working closely together to ensure peace and stability and order in the Indo-pacific region especially geopolitical alignment that is the need of the hours" he said during the speech.

"We have a deep engagement to ensure that the supply chains between our countries remain open, transparent, resilient, effective and efficient," he added.

Goyal is on a three-day visit to Australia from April 6 to 8. The visit comes days after inking the Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (ECTA).

Speaking to ANI, the minister said: "The trade agreement has been well received in India and Australia. I think it will be a great boost to both economic ties, help us in our geopolitical and strategic partnership and create huge employment opportunities for our young boys and girls in India."

ECTA is the first trade agreement of India with a developed country after more than a decade and provides for an institutional mechanism to improve trade between the two countries.

Australia is the 17th largest trading partner of India and India is Australia's 9th largest trading partner. The ECTA is expected to almost double the bilateral trade from USD 27.5 bn (2021) to about USD 45 to USD 50 Billion in the next five years.

ECTA is expected to create new employment opportunities, raise living standards and enhance the overall welfare of the people of both countries. Additional employment generation is expected to be 10 lakhs within the next five years.