Australia and India Trade and Economic Agreement: Moving the Dial?

This event will run with a live audience and as a webinar.

On 2 April 2022, Australia and India signed the Australia-India Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (AI ECTA), after more than ten years of negotiations.

Despite strong historical and cultural ties, India has long underperformed as an economic partner for Australia. This has been due to a lack of complementarities between the two economies; differing economic strategies, and the legacy of past business experience.

The Australian Government’s goal is to make India a top three export market by 2035, and third largest destination in Asia for outbound investment. A key driver for this ambition is the risk posed by Australia’s strong reliance on trade with China during an era of geopolitical uncertainty. India provides an opportunity to diversify our trade as the “world’s fastest growing major economy”. But how can this agenda be realised given past experience, and how can we leverage the free trade agreement for developing new economic ties?

Dr Jeffrey Wilson, one of Australia’s pre-eminent trade and investment policy experts, will provide his analysis on the prospects for the new agreement to move the dial in the economic relationship, following which we will have a longer format Q and A session on the broader Australia – India relationship.

About the speaker

Dr Jeffrey Wilson is the Australian Industry (Ai) Group's Director of Research and Economics. He leads the economics team and provides strategic direction in developing the research program to support its advocacy, service delivery and policy activities. Jeffrey specialises in international economic policy, with a focus on how trade and investment shape the Australian industrial and business environments.