Australia today said the long-drawn negotiations for the proposed free trade agreement (FTA) with India to boost two-way commerce are expected to conclude by the first half of this year.
The talks for a comprehensive economic cooperation agreement (CECA) also known as FTA between India and Australia were started in 2011 to provide fillip to both trade and investments between the two countries.
Australia Minister for Trade and Investment Andrew Robb said that he and Indian Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman took stock of the progress of talks in Nairobi in December last year.
"We sat down in Nairobi, we had a long session with their officials and the minister and we took stock at where we were and how much longer we could expect and we both agreed that and the officials concurred that in the first half of the year (2016) we can finish this," Robb told PTI.
"So that's the objective and I don't think anything has happened since. In fact we got our work done in January and now in February they (officials) are meeting again on some very important issues," he added.
Both the sides were expecting to conclude the negotiations last year only but there were differences on areas like duty cut in dairy and wines.
Several rounds of negotiations have been completed for liberalising trade and services regime besides removing non-tariff barriers and encouraging investments.
Australia is pushing for tariff reduction in dairy, fresh fruit, pharma, meats and wines. On the other hand, India wants zero duty on auto parts, textiles, and fresh fruits, including mangoes and greater access in services sector.
The bilateral trade stood at USD 13 billion in 2014-15 as against USD 12.12 billion in the previous fiscal.
When asked whether India is waiting for finalisation of Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) and then go for this FTA, the Australian Minister said: "Things are being done in parallel and the one is not contingent on the other so that's been the position."
Both India and Australia are part of the mega trade deal RCEP, which is also under negotiations.
"Of course RCEP negotiations inform some of the things that we are doing. We both are in RCEP. But a lot of the bilateral issues we do stand in line and we feel that bilateral can be useful in some areas. Certainly in the positions we both adopt in RCEP," he added.
"RCEP is something that is programmed to finish sometime later this year, whereas the CECA sometime early this year," Robb added.
The 16-member bloc RCEP comprises 10 ASEAN members and their six free trade agreement partners.
RCEP negotiations were launched in Phnom Penh in November 2012. The 16 countries account for over a quarter of the world's economy.
