India and Australia close to sealing early trade pact: Piyush Goyal

India and Australia have been fair about understanding the sensitive sectors in respective nations, indicating that the interim trade deal is likely to steer away from making such areas a part of the agreement.

The interim trade deal, or the early harvest agreement, is expected to be finalised over the next 30 days. A December 25 deadline had been set earlier, but the deal could not be finalised as both countries were not able to iron out disagreements over market access issues.

Commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal said both countries have had fruitful discussions, made significant progress, with respect to the