India-Australia CECA

• 13 Dec 2024

Source: PIB 

Why in News? 

India and Australia have “outlined a path forward for the early conclusion” of the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) between both nations.   

• During a three-day stocktake meeting between the two nations, discussions covered several critical areas of the CECA, including trade in goods, services, mobility, agri-tech cooperation, and more.  

What is the Australia-India Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA)? 

• About: 
  • The CECA is a free trade agreement (FTA) aimed to eliminate tariffs on goods traded and liberalise services sectors to facilitate business opportunities and cooperation. 
  • India-Australia CECA aims to address five key areas: Goods, services, digital trade, government procurement, and Rules of Origin/Product Specific Rules.  
    • In the recent negotiations, both sides have shown interest in the inclusion of new areas in the comprehensive trade deals, such as competition policy, MSMEs, gender, innovation, agri-tech, critical minerals, and sports. 
• Background: 
  • Negotiations for CECA began in May 2011, were suspended in 2016, and re-launched in September 2021.  
  • The India-Australia Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (ECTA), a foundational agreement, was signed and came into force in 2022. It is a limited trade agreement and is less comprehensive than CECA.  
• Current Trade Statistics: 
  • Trade between Australia and India has grown significantly, with India being Australia's fifth-largest trading partner.  
  • During 2023-24, in value terms, India's imports from Australia were $16.2 billion, while exports were almost $8 billion, (compared to $19 billion in imports and nearly $7 billion in exports in the previous fiscal).  
• Other Similar Initiatives between India and Australia: 
  • Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF) 
  • Trilateral Supply Chain Resilience Initiative (SCRI) (India, Australia and Japan) 
• India’s CECA with Other Countries: 
  • India-Singapore CECA 
  • India-Malaysia CECA 
  • India-Thailand CECA 
  • India -New Zealand CECA

Read More: 2^nd India-Australia Annual Summit  

UPSC Civil Services Examination, Previous Year Questions (PYQs)  

Prelims:

Q.1 Consider the following countries: (2018)  

1. Australia
2. Canada
3. China
4. India
5. Japan
6. USA

Which of the above are among the ‘free-trade partners’ of ASEAN?  

(a) 1, 2, 4 and 5  

(b) 3, 4, 5 and 6 

(c) 1, 3, 4 and 5  

(d) 2, 3, 4 and 6

Ans: (c)