• India and Australia concluded the 11th Round of India-Australia Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) negotiations held in New Delhi from August 18-23.

• The negotiations covered a wide range of areas, including goods, services and mobility, digital trade, rules of origin, legal and institutional provisions, environment, labour, and gender, bringing greater understanding for convergence in the remaining provisions.

• Australia is an important trade and strategic partner of India.

• The two countries have implemented an interim trade deal in December 2022, and are now in negotiations to widen its scope to CECA.

• To maintain momentum and achieve convergence, both partners will continue the CECA negotiations in virtual intersessions.

India-Australia Relations

• India and Australia established diplomatic relations in the pre-Independence period, with the establishment of India Trade Office in Sydney in 1941.

• The end of the Cold War and simultaneously India’s decision to launch major economic reforms in 1991 provided the first positive move towards development of closer ties between the two nations. 

• Both countries upgraded bilateral relationship from ‘Strategic Partnership’ in 2009 to ‘Comprehensive Strategic Partnership’ (CSP) in 2020.

• India and Australia are partners in the trilateral Supply Chain Resilience Initiative (SCRI) arrangement along with Japan which seeks to enhance the resilience of supply chains in the Indo-Pacific Region. 

• Further, India and Australia are also members of the Quad, also comprising the US, and Japan, to further enhance cooperation and develop partnership across several issues of common concern.

• The India-Australia bilateral relationship is underpinned by shared values of a pluralistic, Westminster-style democracies, Commonwealth traditions, expanding economic engagement and increasing high level interaction.  

• The longstanding people-to-people ties, ever increasing Indian students coming to Australia for higher education, growing tourism, and sporting links, especially cricket and hockey, have played a significant role in further strengthening bilateral relations between the two countries.

Defence Cooperation

• The inaugural India-Australia 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue was held in September 2021 in New Delhi. The 2+2 dialogue is held between the foreign and defence ministers of two countries.

• India and Australia signed an agreement concerning Mutual Logistics Support to increase military interoperability through defence exercises between the two countries. The agreement allows the two countries to access military bases for logistics support. 

Defence exercises involving Australia:

• The third edition of joint military exercise ‘AUSTRAHIND’ was conducted in Pune in November 2024.

• The first-ever bilateral maritime exercise — AUSINDEX — was conducted in Visakhapatnam and the Bay of Bengal in September 2015. 

• The Royal Australian Navy has participated in every iteration of Exercise Milan since 2003. 

• Indian ships participated in Kakadu, the biennial multinational exercise of the Australian Navy held in 2018, 2022 and 2024. 

• Indian Air Force participated in Exercise Pitch Black in 2018, 2022 and 2024. 

• In October 2020, Australia participated in Exercise Malabar, joining India, the United States and Japan. In August 2023 Australia hosted Exercise Malabar for the first time.

India-Australia ECTA

• The Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (ECTA) was signed on April 2, 2022. It came into force on December 29, 2022.

• India-Australia ECTA has created pathways for robust trade, offering new avenues for businesses, entrepreneurs, and employment across both nations.

• Following the signing and implementation of the agreement, total bilateral trade reached $24 billion in 2023-24, marking an impressive 14 per cent growth in the country's exports to Australia as compared to 2022-23.

• The pact has brought benefits across several sectors such as textiles, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, and agriculture.