Jaishankar Exchanges New Year Call With Australia’s Marise Payne
New Delhi, Jan 5: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Wednesday exchanged a New Year call with his Australian counterpart Marise Payne, and said he is confident that 2022 will see even greater advancement in the bilateral ties.
The EAM tweeted: “A New Year call with Australian FM and Quad partner @MarisePayne.
“Confident that 2022 will see even greater advancement in our ties.”
A New Year call with Australian FM and Quad partner @MarisePayne .
Confident that 2022 will see even greater advancement in our ties.
— Dr. S. Jaishankar (@DrSJaishankar) January 5, 2022
The telephone call comes as the Indian commerce ministry said that both sides are expected to complete negotiations for an interim free trade agreement soon with the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) expected to be completed by the end of 2022.
The pact would cover areas such as goods, services, investment, rules of origin, customs facilitation, legal and institutional issues, the commerce department said.
India and Australia had held their inaugural 2+2 meeting between their foreign and defence ministers in New Delhi in September last year.
As part of the four-nation Quad vaccines partnership, India and Australia are working to provide safe and effective Covid-19 vaccines in the Indo-Pacific by boosting supply, sharing vaccine doses, and supporting vaccine rollouts across the region.
