India’s Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal has said that India’s trade pact with Australia will raise bilateral trade from the present USD 26-27 billion to USD 100 billion by 2030, a pace which is much faster than initial expectation of rising to USD 50 billion in 5 years.
“The spirit generated by the agreement has increased business optimism on both sides”, said the minister as he addressed the University of Melbourne along with Australian Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment Dan Tehan today (6th March, 2022). “Together this marriage can truly have far reaching dimensions for both our economies and, if I dare say, for the rest of the world also where we can collectively engage and have an outreach to other parts of the world,” said Piyush Goyal.
The minister also addressed members of the business community from both countries at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. He underlined how both the countries can benefit from the pact, given India’s huge market and Australia’s investible surplus. He also stressed on the importance of the India-Australia Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (IndAus ECTA), which will unlock the huge market of almost 1.4 billion consumers in India to Australian industries. Inviting Australian businesses to invest in India, the minister said, “We offer you transparency. We offer you our trust, rule of law. We are two democratic nations, two people who love sports, both are members of the Commonwealth… We are now One, that’s what the Unity Agreement is all about. And at this watershed moment in our relations, I think it’s only appropriate that we break every barrier between the two countries whether it’s movement of goods, services, people, technology, education, science, medical knowledge, we break all these barriers, see how we can work together as true brothers.”
The minister also mentioned few sectors that are going to see an exceptional growth. These include areas like textiles, pharma, hospitality, gems and jewellery, IT, Startups etc. and Accountancy in Services, that will create huge employment in both countries. “Let’s see some more Tasmania lobsters in New Delhi possibly, or wine from South Australia coming down into Indian shelves, we’ll probably have a lot more Bangaloreans coming down to Melbourne to serve you in your IT space, we’ll have a lot more jewellers from Prime Minister’s home state of Gujarat, from Surat coming down to sell their wares in the stores in Australia, lots to do together, lot of potential in different areas. I hope this partnership will grow and we will all grow along with this partnership,” said the Commerce Minister
India has been able to taken several bold initiatives since 2014 as far as Ease of Doing Business is concerned, thanks to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision and leadership. Speaking on this success mantra, Piyush Goyal said, “We believe when the people of India have a better quality of basic necessities, they will be able to contribute much more to the Indian economy, to the society, be better citizens of the country. And the next stage, obviously, as the demand, as the expectations of our people increase, we will be needing to provide economic growth, we will be needing to provide jobs. There will be millions, hundreds of millions who will own their first automobile, there will be hundreds of millions who want to buy a dishwasher, a washing machine, there will be hundreds of millions who will be looking for better nutrition, better quality of healthcare, better quality of education.”
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