Australia and India signed on Saturday, April 2, an interim free trade agreement. It provides for the removal of tariffs on 85 percent of goods from Australia exported to India, including mutton, wool, coal and copper, as well as duty-free trade in the Australian market for 96 percent of goods imported into the country from India.
Under the agreement, the trade ministers of Australia and India, Dan Tean and Piyush Goyal, put their signatures at the same time. At the same time, the heads of government of the countries - Scott Morrison and Narendra Damodardas Modi - watched the ceremony via video link.
Commenting on the signing of a free trade agreement with India, Australian Prime Minister Morrison called it "one of the biggest doors that could be opened." According to the politician, his state and India are "two dynamically developing regional economies, like-minded democracies, working together to achieve a common good." In turn, Modi regarded the signing of a free trade agreement with Australia as a "turning point."
