Australia, India launch first round of substantive FTA talks.docVIP

Australia, India launch first round of substantive FTA talks 　　 Australia， India launch first round of substantive FTA talks 　　On Jan. 11， 2015， Australian Trade and Investment Minister Andrew Robb held the first round of substantive negotiations toward a free-trade agreement（FTA） with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. 　　This round of negotiations was held in Modi’s hometown Ahmedabad， a business city of India’s Gujarat， lasting 30 minutes. After the negotiations， Robb said that Modi had pledged to enter into FTA with Australia this year. 　　During the negotiations， Robb and Modi also discussed about service trades， import of goods and Australia-India investment. 　　According to Robb， his visit to India was accompanied by a total of 400 Australian business and political leaders， showing Australian federal government’s strong emphasis on the negotiations for the FTA. 　　“It means a big step forward in the relationship between the two countries，”said Australia’s New South Wales （NSW） Premier Mike Baird， one of those leaders accompanying the visit. 　　India is Australia’s fifth-largest export market. In 2013， Australia’s commodity exports to India totaled 9.5 billion Austrian dollars， while its education exports to India reached 1.3 billion Austrian dollars. 　　Besides Robb， Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott also eyes to finalize the Australia-India free-trade agreement by the end of this year. 　　 Australia’s fiscal deficit expected to expand by A$10 bln 　　By the end of June 2015， Australia’s fiscal deficit may expand to 40.4 billion Australian dollars， or 205.4 billion yuan， well above the forecast of 29.8 billion Australian dollars released in May 2014， according to Joe Hockey， Australian Treasury Minister. 　　In the mid-year economic and fiscal outlook report released recently， Hockey pointed out that a decrease of more than 30% in iron ore prices and a lowerthan-expected growth in salary caused the government revenues to plummet by 31.6 billion Aust