India, Australia ink trade pact to boost ties, PM Modi says ‘watershed moment’

India and Australia inked a key trade pact on Saturday to boost economic ties. “Consensus on such an important agreement in such a short period of time shows the mutual trust between the two countries.

This is truly a watershed moment for our bilateral relations,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Saturday. This is the third time in the last few weeks that PM Modi met Australia’s Scott Morrison virtually.

“The pace and scale of our cooperation since we announced our comprehensive, strategic partnership has been remarkable. Some USD 282 million in new initiatives my government has announced including at the summit which will drive our expanding cooperation,” Morrison said on Saturday.

Ahead of the inking of the trade deal, the Australian prime minister had said it represented “one of the biggest economic doors there is to open in the world today”.

The new pact, according to news agency Reuters, removes tariffs on more than 85 per cent of Australian goods exports to India, worth A$12.6 billion, rising to almost 91 per cent over 10 years. Tariffs will be scrapped on sheep meat, wool, copper, coal, alumina, fresh Australian rock lobster, and some critical minerals and non-ferrous metals to India. It will see 96 per cent of Indian goods imports enter Australia duty-free.