Prime Minister Narendra Modi, skilled practitioner of selfies, had a gotcha moment today riding the Delhi metro with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. The leaders then visited the famous Akshardhma temple on the banks of the River Yamuna, where they posed with garlands.
India and Australia agreed today to revive stalled talks on a bilateral trade deal but, the visiting premier conceded that chances of an early breakthrough were slim.
Instead, Mr Turnbull said he was prioritising an Asia-Pacific forum that includes China, amid concerns over access to India’s market of 1.3 billion people for farm exports from Australia and opportunities for skilled Indian workers there.
After meeting the PM, the Australian leader said that the two had agreed to make a fresh push on a proposed bilateral Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA).
“We had a very good discussion about the CECA, and I think it’s fair to say that progress has not been as fast as either of us would like it to be,” Mr Turnbull told a joint news conference.
Though the two sides agreed to a fresh round of discussions, he made it clear his priority was now the broader Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).
The RCEP has emerged as Australia’s main opportunity to bolster its trade prospects after U.S. President Donald Trump pulled out of another, broader, trade deal, the Trans-Pacific Partnership, after taking office in January.
It groups the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and a further half-dozen countries, including India, with which ASEAN has free trade deals.
Bilateral trade with India has doubled over the past decade to around $20 billion, Mr Turnbull also said, but that was a fraction of what it could and should be.
Turnbull, on a three-day visit to New Delhi and Mumbai, was joined by a business delegation and heads of academic institutions. Australia is second after the United States as the most popular foreign destination for Indians studying abroad.
