Former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has called for India and Australia to restart talks for a bilateral free trade agreement (FTA). Abbott, who oversaw the signing of Australia’s free trade pacts with China, Japan and South Korea had done his best as Prime Minister to promote free trade but was keener on bilateral deals. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Australian PM had launched discussions on a bilateral trade deal but it was subsumed in the RCEP negotiations.
RCEP comprises the 10 ASEAN states and six of the grouping’s FTA partners – Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea – and an agreement expected to be signed next year will create one of the world’s largest free trade regions.
