Australian parliament passes free trade pact with India

Canberra, Nov 22: Less than a week after meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of G-20 Summit in Bali, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced on Tuesday that the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the two nations has been passed by the Australian Parliament.

The Australian PM took to Twitter and wrote, "Our Free Trade Agreement with India has passed through parliament."

In his Twitter post, the Australian PM tagged Prime Minister Narendra Modi and their meeting's picture on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Bali, Indonesia.

This comes when PM Albanese on November 18 announced that he would visit India in March 2023.

"I also met with Prime Minister Modi of India, where we discussed the finalization of the closer economic cooperation agreement between Australia and India, which we regard as being very important for expanding the economic relationship between Australia and India. I will visit India in March," said Albanese while addressing the presser on the sidelines of the G20 summit.

The Australian PM had also said, "We'll take a business delegation to India. And that will be an important visit and an upgrade in the relationship that we have between our two nations."

On talking about the trade agreements, Australian Trade Minister Don Farrell said last week, "The quality of this Agreement, in terms of market access and opportunity for Australian businesses, demonstrates India's commitment to our bilateral economic partnership," according to an ANI report.

The Australia-India Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (ECTA) was signed on April 2.

Notably, PM Modi met the Australian PM on the sidelines of the G-20 Summit in Bali recently.