India-Australia Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (Ind-Aus ECTA)

India-Australia Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (Ind-Aus ECTA)

Subject: Polity

• With Trade pact becoming a reality, Australian Prime Minister is set to visit India.
• This visit is expected to further bilateral ties that received a boost from the implementation of the Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement.

Ind-Aus Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement

• It is the first Free Trade Agreement (FTA) that India has signed with a major developed country in over a decade.
• The Agreement encompasses cooperation across the entire gamut of bilateral economic and commercial relations between the two friendly countries, and covers areas like:
• Trade in Goods, Rules of Origin
• Trade in Services
• Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT)
• Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) measures
• Dispute Settlement, Movement of Natural Persons
• Telecom, Customs Procedures
• Pharmaceutical products, and Cooperation in other Areas
• ECTA provides for an institutional mechanism to encourage and improve trade between the two countries.
• The ECTA between India and Australia covers almost all the tariff lines dealt in by India and Australia respectively.
• India will benefit from preferential market access provided by Australia on 100% of its tariff lines.
• This includes all the labour-intensive sectors of export interest to India such as Gems and Jewellery, Textiles, leather, footwear, furniture etc.
• On the other hand, India will be offering preferential access to Australia on over 70% of its tariff lines, including lines of export interest to Australia which are primarily raw materials and intermediaries such as coal, mineral ores and wines etc.
• Under the agreement, Indian graduates from STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) will be granted extended post-study work visas.
• Australia will also set up a programme to grant visas to young Indians looking to pursue working holidays in Australia.
• Annual Visa quota of 1800 is to be instituted for India Yoga teachers and Chefs.
• It is also estimated that 10 lakh jobs will be created as a result of ECTA.