India wants trade deal by end of next year
The Australian, Canberra
India wants trade deal by end of next year
By Greg Sheridan, Foreign editor
22 May 2008
Australia and India should aim to complete a free trade agreement by the end of next year, says India’s influential Commerce and Industry Minister, Kamal Nath.
In an interview with The Australian, Mr Nath said that because the Indian and Australian economies were so complementary, an FTA should be relatively easy to achieve.
He believed it should cover trade in merchandise and services and two-way investment.
"We should try and conclude it by mid-2010, or even by the end of next year," Mr Nath said.
The FTA proposal is now a subject of a joint feasibility study between India and Australia.
Mr Nath also wants Australia to sell uranium to India, although the Rudd Government has reversed Howard government policy and said it will not sell uranium to India, even if India completes its nuclear energy deal with the US and wins approval for this from the International Atomic Energy Association.
"We do ask Australia to take a practical and realistic view (of uranium sales)," Mr Nath said.
"Australia is not the only source of uranium for India, but (it should be viewed) in the larger context of global warming and the larger relationship between Indian and Australia."
Mr Nath said he wanted a much stronger relationship between India and Australia.
The New Delhi Government is known to believe the Rudd Government is obsessed with China and has an unbalanced foreign policy. Mr Nath would not be drawn on such subjects, but said: "The China story is an old story, while the India story is a new story. China opened up earlier so it obviously got a head start."
