India-Australia trade pact has geostrategic significance: Tehan

Australian Trade Minister Dan Tehan on Thursday said the recently signed trade agreement with India is of geostrategic significance and will help in promoting rule-based trade in the Indo-Pacific region.

Without naming China, Tehan said there is an "assertive autocratic" government that is seeking to change the rules of the game at the moment.

India and Australia inked an economic cooperation and trade agreement on April 2 with an aim to boost economic ties between the two countries.

"Thing that is so great about this pact is its geostrategic significance. The Indo-pacific region has never been more challenged. There is an assertive autocratic government that is seeking to change the rules of the game at the moment and through this agreement, we are standing up… we will not tolerate that," Tehan said at a meeting with businesses of both sides.

As two liberal democracies, both sides are going to fight to keep the rules-based order in place and make sure that all countries in the Indo-pacific can continue to flourish, he said.

"…. we are going to make sure that the supply chain is one of the most critical areas, around critical minerals and rare earth...will also be able to flourish during this time because those materials, those rare earth and those critical minerals are going to underpin all the future industries of the world," he added.

Further, he said that India and Australia are integrating their economies even closer and “we are going” to do that by liberalisation.

"When I was in the US last week, the US commerce secretary and the USTR (US Trade Representative) both wanted to know how the negotiations (for India-Australia trade pact) are going and whether we would able to achieve an outcome and had a regular message from my UK counterpart, wanting to know whether we are going to get the deal done or not," he said.

Tehan also said that Canada is also watching the pact very closely as they wanted to see whether India and Australia could send that positive message of how important it is that the countries come together at this time, continue to integrate and grow through liberalisation.

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