New Delhi: India and Australia are working on a comprehensive economic cooperation agreement and a Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) to boost two-way trade and strengthen economic ties, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said Friday.
Addressing ICAI’s first Oceania International Conference 2026 in Australia, the minister said the two countries can enhance cooperation in areas like education, and critical minerals.
The two countries have implemented an Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (ECTA) in 2022 and are now negotiating to expand the scope of the pact into a Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA).
“Now we have decided to work towards a very balanced, fair and equitable, comprehensive economic cooperation agreement, which will also take our relationship to greater heights. We are working with Australia to have a bilateral investment treaty also,” he said.
BITs provide protection to investments in other countries. They also help promote two-way investments.
“We are looking to have Australia and India as a trusted partnership. We both complement each other. Australia has critical minerals. We have manufacturing and processing ambitions. Australian universities and our young talent complement each other. Australia’s patient capital and our appetite for growth complement each other,” Goyal said.
“We have also sorted out the problem of cross-border taxation that several service providers, particularly the IT companies, were facing. We have also had greater engagement on respecting each other’s due diligence to try to reduce the compliance burden on businesses and citizens,” the minister said.
He suggested the ICAI members move from being stewards of capital to architects of innovation and sustainable enterprises; and become ambassadors of India-Australia to open newer opportunities in renewable energy technologies, and supporting each other in critical minerals availability, and processing.
“Can we work together in the field of education, maybe providing dual degrees to our students from India and to the Australian students who we would like to invite to India to spend maybe six months or a year here,” he added.
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The minister suggested them to become a bridge between educational institutions of the two countries.
“…Be the reconciler of a fragmented world. I think institutes like the Chartered Accountants Institute, the CA ANZ and the CPA Australia can help working together through a deeper mutual recognition agreement so that we can have a seamless flow of Australian chartered accountants and CPAs coming to India as Indian chartered accountants serve Australian businesses,” he added.
CA ANZ and CPA Australia are the two leading professional accounting organisations in Australia.
