India-Australia free trade pact likely soon- Australian envoy

New Delhi, 1 June (Shobhna Jain/VNI) Newly appointed Australian High Commissioner Harinder Sidhu today said that talks on India- Australia free trade agreement are in an advanced stage, but due to forthcoming Australian elections,it is difficult to commit on a timeline for its finalisation. she said emphatically'" FTA talks are very much in progress and they have not stalled' Ms Sidhu also said that Australia is keen to work with India to achieve a sufficiently ambitious Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) outcome. RCEP negotiations involve the 10 ASEAN members and ASEAN’s six FTA partners, -- India, China, Japan, Korea, Australia and New Zealand. She said that .Australia supports India’s growing participation in the economic architecture of the Asia-Pacific region. High Commissioner was delivering a talk here on “Pathways to Trade Liberalization” jointly organised by the Australian High Commission and the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER), lauding present Indo-Austrlian relations she said '"bilateral relationship between the two countries are in such good shape, that some have described it as having reached “a high watermark” .High Commissioner said “From my perspective, India should have a regional voice commensurate with its size and economic weight. Australia supports India’s growing participation in the economic architecture of the region. Our increasing reference to the ‘Indo-Pacific’, rather than the earlier term of ‘Asia-Pacific’, reflects this desire to embrace India as a key contributor to building regional cooperation and integration,” She added that the RCEP provides an ideal forum in which India can contribute to shaping and influencing the rules governing trade and investment in the region.It may be mentioned that Ms Sandhu is second Indian origin Australian High Commissioner in India.Her parents are originally from Punjab. She also understands little bit of Punjabi language and fan of Bollywood films and its music.Few years ago, Mr. Peter Vergese was also Indian origin Australian High Commissioner . To a query related to uranium supplies from Australia for India's nuclear power plants, she said that with the civil nuclear agreement between both countries in place, there is "active engagement underway" to complete the formalities of commercial shipment of the fuel. Referring to RCEP High Commissioner said the RCEP countries account for almost half of the world’s population, nearly 30% of global GDP and over a quarter of world exports.Explaining that Australia-India Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement CECA had a last December timeline for concluding what are "genuinely complex negotiations", she said: "The Australian trade envoy was here as recently as in April.The complex nature of FTA negotiations are borne out by the fact of 10 years taken to conclude such an agreement with Australia's major trading partner China, and nine years each for FTAs with Japan and South Korea. She added that the RCEP provides an ideal forum in which India can contribute to shaping and influencing the rules governing trade and investment in the region.VNI