Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal and Australian Minister for Trade and Investment Dan Tehan  |  Photo Credit: ANI
New Delhi: Union commerce and industries minister Piyush Goyal spoke of Sachin Tendulkar and Glenn McGrath. It was more like the more contemporary Virat Kohli and Pat Cummins, felt his Australian counterpart, trade and tourism Dan Tehan. The ideas worked, except that the ministers didn’t see the players as rivals: in both cases, they were on the same side. Or as Goyal said, “brothers.”
On the day the foreign ministers of India, Australia, Japan and the United States of America met for the Quad meeting in Melbourne, Tehan spoke of the importance of defending the rules-based order and that the four foreign ministers have got together to reiterate the need to do so, particularly when “some countries were trying to change that.”
This appeared to be a reference to recent Chinese aggression in the Indo-Pacific. It wasn’t the first such statement by Tehan. Earlier, he had mentioned that this was a time of “great political uncertainty.” He added that Australia had trade-related disputes with China and was taking it to the World Trade Organisation.
Goyal said the Quad meetings were also helping to bring Australia and India closer and the appointment of former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott to help improve economic ties with India was a welcome step.
Goyal said the first step towards the free trade agreement between the two countries was likely to happen in a month, culminating in the final deal in about a year. Both sides, he said, have shown understanding and consideration about the issues.
Similar free trade agreements with other countries or groups were being worked on, said Goyal. India was working on agreements with the European Union, the Gulf Cooperation Council, Great Britain, Israel and several other countries.