Australian Parliamentary Visit, 11th December 2023, The Bengal Chamber Premises
The Australian Joint Standing Committee on Treaties, comprising of 5 Members of the Australian Parliament visited Kolkata and requested for a Meeting with Senior Members/Executives of The Bengal Chamber of Commerce & Industry at 3:15pm on Monday, 11 December 2023.The roundtable was organized to understand more on outcomes of the Australia-India Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (in case any Member has benefitted from it) and gain insights on the business environment in the Eastern part of India.
|
A brief note on Australia-India Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement:- The coming into force of Ind – Aus ECTA brings together two major economies of the world - India the 5th largest economy and Australia the 14th largest economy. Since the trade between the two countries is hugely complementary, this offers opportunities on both sides and will pave the way for a win-win solution for both India and Australia. The India Australia-ECTA is expected to further grow the existing trade in sectors like minerals, cosmetics and wine and give a big boost to several other sectors of the Indian economy especially textiles, gems, jewellery and pharmaceuticals. Australia will provide zero-duty access to India for 100 percent of its tariff lines. India will provide zero-duty access immediately on 40.3 percent of its tariff lines and the remaining 30 percent in a phased manner over a period of three, five, seven, and 10 years. This also includes 125 tariff lines where duties will be reduced rather than eliminated. For more information on Australia-India Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement, please refer to:- |
The meeting was attended by delegation from Australian Joint Standing Committee on Treaties, comprising of 5 Members of the Australian Parliament accompanied by the Australian Consul General in Kolkata, Ms Rowan Ainsworth, Austrade Trade Commissioner, Mr John Southwell and Austrade Director – Business Development, Mr Varun Kukreti.
Attendees of the meeting:
- Members from Australian Joint Standing Committee on Treaties, Australian Parliament, Austrade and Australian Consulate:
- Mr. Matt Burnell MP, Federal Member for Spence, Federal Parliament, Australia
- Mr. Josh Wilson MP, Federal Labor Member for Fremantle, Federal Parliament, Australia
- Senator Matthew Canavan, LNP Senator for Queensland, Federal Parliament, Australia
- Mr. John Southwell, Trade and Investment Commissioner, Australian Trade and Investment Commission, Australian Government
- Ms. Rowan Ainsworth, Consul General, Consulate of Australia
- Mr. Varun Kukreti, Director - Business Development, Kolkata, Australian Trade and Investment Commission (Austrade)
- Relevant senior members, stakeholders and executives of The Bengal Chamber of Commerce & Industry:
- Mr. Gautam Ray, President, The Bengal Chamber of Commerce & Industry and Executive Director (HR & Admin.) - CESC Limited & President (HR) – Power Group, RPSG, CESC Limited
- Dr. Abhijit Sen, Past President, The Bengal Chamber of Commerce & Industry
- Mr. Vivek Jalan, Partner, Tax Connect Advisory Services LLP
- Mr. Bidyut Majumder, AGM- Business Development, JIS Group
- Mr. Sourabha Dutta, Senior Vice President - Sales & Marketing, Traction & Exports Industrial, Exide Industries Limited
- Ms. Surbhi Sharma, Associate Consultant, Intueri Consulting LLP
- Ms. Sohini Nayak, Senior Research Associate, CUTS International, Kolkata
- Mr. Sushil Dugar, Head Logistics Services Business, Balmer Lawrie & Co. Ltd.
- Mr. Tanmoy Banerjee, Director, RT Network Solutions Pvt Ltd
- Mr. Subhodip Ghosh, Director General, The Bengal Chamber of Commerce & Industry
- Ms. Angana Guha Roy Chowdhury, Assistant Director General, The Bengal Chamber of Commerce & Industry
- Mr. Arnab Chakraborty, Director, The Bengal Chamber of Commerce & Industry
- Ms. Swarnali Dhar, Deputy Director, The Bengal Chamber of Commerce & Industry
- Mr. Sambit Dasgupta, Assistant Director, The Bengal Chamber of Commerce & Industry
|
President, Mr. Gautam Ray, rightly pointed out in his opening remarks that, the Australia-India ECTA in the years to come will help expand the trade vision between India and Australia and shall strive new horizons of business among the two countries. According to him, the ECTA should bolster services trade between the two countries, particularly due to commitments in the agreement covering the movement of natural persons under Mode 4 of the General Agreement on Trade Services and in the category of professional services. The agreement on professional services should support Mode 4 access, particularly as a result of the decision to develop systems for ‘recognising professional qualifications and experience, registration and licensing of professionals, including through mutual recognition or similar arrangements’. |
The Consul General, Ms. Ainsworth said that, “The trade relation has never been better among India and Australia. The Audio-Visual Co-operation agreement is one such example. ECTA has eliminated most of tariffs that gives a frontload approach to the businesses who are benefitted right away. Since the ECTA is devised Indian textile exports to Australia has gone up to 28%. Additionally, CECA once operational, will provide a more comprehensive sets of benefits to the countries. |
MP, Mr. Josh Wilson, MP, Federal Parliament, Australia & chair of the board of the drafting committee of ECTA has pointed out during the meeting that, “the bilateral relation when in draft form was addressed as one of the most dynamic treaty with a vibrant outlook on trade affairs”. |
Since the ECTA is still at a very nascent stage of its function, the roundtable also featured a discussion on the unrealized benefits of the agreement. The senior members and stakeholders from The Bengal Chamber of Commerce & Industry were requested to identify few of the unrealized benefits of the ECTA as per their opinion.
One of the objectives for the discussion was identifying the benefits of Australia-India ECTA so far experienced by the Indian industry since its implication on 29th December 2022.
Since the effect of the ECTA, Exide business has gone up by 2.45% due to customs reduction by 5%. The aim for the organization next year is reaching the 5% growth. Which can be further accelerated if their dependence on Chinese raw material is could be reduced.
Although exports of minerals and textiles have increased significantly since implementation of ECTA, Ms. Ainsworth additionally gave an overview on the expectations from Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) which is set to be signed by December 2023. According to the feedback, Australia-India CECA will provide more comprehensive sets of benefits for both the countries once operational.
EVENT GALLERY