India, Aus to resume comprehensive FTA talks on Monday; progress expected

Chief negotiators of India and Australia will begin the next round of talks for the comprehensive free trade agreement from tomorrow in Sydney, where both sides are likely to close negotiations on several chapters of the pact, an official said.

Both countries have already implemented an interim pact and are in discussions to expand its scope under the CECA (Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement).

The interim pact - Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (ECTA) - came into force in December 2022.

The tenth round of negotiations is scheduled from August 19-22 in Sydney.

"Out of the total 19 areas of the agreement, we have completed our discussions on four chapters, and we are in very advanced stages in a few others. We hope that in this round, we should be able to close altogether, maybe more than 10 chapters," the commerce ministry official said.

In this round, the official said that both countries are likely to get into market access discussions in goods and services.

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