India And Western Australia Have Enormous Trade Potential: Roger Cook
Roger Cook, Deputy Premier, Western Australia, on Tuesday said that there is enormous trade potential between India and Western Australia, and both should work together to unlock it. Speaking at the sidelines of an event in New Delhi, Cook said that Western Australia provides a crucial opportunity for countries such as India to access renewable energy.
"Western Australia sees itself as a future global energy power, renewable energy powerhouse. And we want India to work with us to unlock all the potential in the region's solar and wind sector. We can produce green hydrogen and ammonia to provide great acumen for the future," Cook stated.
Cook acknowledged the drive and initiatives by Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal to bring the Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (ECTA) signed in April to its current stage and said that it's an agreement whose time has come.
"It's one of the first of these types of agreements between India and a developed economy. And I think that speaks volumes in terms of the shared values, shared economic and democratic institutions and the shared commitment to the rule of law when it comes to trade and economic investments between the two countries," said Cook.
Cook also highlighted how India has the ambition to become an electric vehicle manufacturing powerhouse and said that Western Australia has all the components and opportunities around developing the minerals and resources that go into that entire value chain of electric vehicle manufacturing.
On India's commitment toward an outward-facing and trade-oriented country, Cook lauded Prime Minister Narendra Modi's commitment to make India an expansive economic powerhouse. He said that the pace at which the developments happened around ECTA speaks volumes about the Indian government's commitment to enhance the trade ties between the two countries and its economic influence in the region as well as globally.
Earlier on Wednesday, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said, “I met minister Mr Don Farrell, who looks after trade in the new (Australian) government, and he has confirmed that they will be taking the Indus-ECTA to parliament very soon and they support the agreement and would like to further expand their engagement with India in the months and years to come.”
India-Australia Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (ECTA) signed in April needs ratification by Australian parliament before its implementation.
The agreement, once implemented, will provide duty-free access to the Australian market for over 6,000 broad sectors of India, including textiles, leather, furniture, jewellery and machinery.
Australia is the 17th largest trading partner of India, while New Delhi is Canberra's 9th largest partner. India's goods exports were worth USD 6.9 billion and imports aggregated to USD 15.1 billion in 2021.
