10th Round of India-Australia CECA Negotiations was held from 19-22 August 2024 in Sydney in the areas of Goods, Services, Digital Trade, Government Procurement, Rules of Origin and Agri tech. Intense discussions were held on each of these tracks bringing in clarity and understanding for convergence in the remaining provisions. The 10^th Round was held after a gap of around 5 months from the concluded 9^th Round. However intersessional meetings were held between these two rounds to bring in convergence on all these tracks as well as under other remaining tracks.

The Indian delegation was led by Shri Rajesh Agrawal, the Chief Negotiator and Additional Secretary, Department of Commerce, GOI, and the Australian delegation was led by Shri Ravi Kewalram, the Chief Negotiator and First Assistant Secretary in DFAT, Australia. The meeting saw intensive discussions and negotiations to narrow down the differences through better understanding of each other’s proposals and the way to bring in convergence. Efforts were made by both the sides keeping in mind the domestic sensitivities for reaching a balanced outcome.

All the five negotiating tracks reported the outcomes of their discussions to the Joint meeting of the Chief Negotiators which provided them further guidance to steer their future work. It was decided that given the clear understanding of each other’s proposals under the five tracks, track leads from both the sides would work out action plan for negotiations through virtual mode intersessionally before the next round, likely to be held in India.

In addition, the Chief Negotiators reviewed the bilateral trade and investment relations between India and Australia and underscored commitment to strengthen and enhance the economic partnership between India and Australia through building up on the positive effects of India-Australia ECTA, which entered into force on 29 December 2022. Both the sides made efforts to ensure that the CECA negotiation delivers meaningful benefits and balanced outcome for both sides.

Exploring the feasibility of deepening the cause of economic cooperation between India and Australia through CECA negotiations and thereby promoting investments, fruitful discussions were held with AIBC National Chair, Jodi McKay, CEO Grain Trade Australia Pat O’Shannasy and others in a round table meeting organized by Australia on the sidelines of the 10^th Round of India-Australia CECA negotiations. CG of India in Sydney also participated in the discussions. It was also brought to light by the Australian side that they are proposing to hold the first meeting of the India-Australia Agri Tech Forum (IAATF), a newly constituted forum by Australia, in New Delhi on 23 September 2024, with the Indian agricultural stakeholders namely industry, research institutions and Government for building on mutually beneficial relationship by exploring opportunities for focused activity around technology transfer and knowledge sharing in agriculture and horticulture sectors. 

The Indian delegation also visited the University of Sydney and Cicada Innovation Centre to understand the research activities being carried out by Australia in agriculture and agritech.

Australia is an important trade and strategic partner of India. Both the countries are part of the 14 country Indo Pacific Economic Forum for Prosperity (IPEF) and Trilateral Supply Chain Resilience Initiative (SCRI) which is expected to strengthen the supply chain resilience in the region.

The next Round of India-Australia CECA negotiations is likely to be held in November 2024.

Economic cooperation via CECA negotiations advances bilateral trade, narrows differences across goods, services, digital trade, and procurement. Negotiations on a proposed Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement advanced across five tracks-Goods, Services, Digital Trade, Government Procurement and Rules of Origin-with intensive discussions narrowing differences and track leads directed to pursue virtual intersessional action plans to achieve convergence; chief negotiators underscored a commitment to balanced outcomes and strengthened bilateral economic partnership while initiating an India-Australia Agri Tech Forum for technology transfer and stakeholder engagement.