As Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine final month, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison confronted difficult questions at a press convention about India’s reluctance to sentence the struggle.

Morrison rapidly turned the topic to China and Beijing’s assist for Moscow.

And India?

“All international locations have totally different ranges of engagement with Russia,” Morrison mentioned, “and so I’m respectful of that.”

It was a telling second, one which captured a rising convergence of pursuits that even probably the most contentious subject roiling the world — the struggle in Ukraine — isn’t disrupting.

India and Australia, democracies at two ends of the Indian Ocean, are anticipated to signal an interim free commerce settlement this month, marking a significant step in direction of consummating their financial relationship at a time when each nations are determined to cut back their dependence on China.

They’ve declared their intent to ink the total pact, referred to as the Complete Financial Cooperation Settlement (CECA), later this yr.

New Delhi and Canberra began negotiating the deal in 2011, however a failure to align their priorities meant that talks repeatedly stumbled. Political uncertainty in Australia — Morrison is the nation’s fifth prime minister over the previous decade — didn’t assist, specialists say. And for a interval after the Narendra Modi authorities got here to energy in India in 2014, its dedication to free commerce offers appeared suspect.

However as India and Australia have every witnessed a spike in tensions with China, they’ve been pressured to confront a troublesome actuality: Beijing is Canberra’s greatest buying and selling accomplice and the largest supply of New Delhi’s imports. A commerce deal would assist them each minimize their reliance on China.

There’s additionally rising complementarity between the financial priorities of the 2 nations: India wants crucial Australian minerals for brand spanking new sectors like the event of electrical automobiles, whereas Australia requires expert labour that India can supply.

For Morrison, there’s a sturdy political incentive forward of a federal election that have to be referred to as by Might 21. After Australia referred to as for an investigation into the origins of COVID-19, Beijing hit again with a wave of sanctions concentrating on 13 industries that exported $54bn to China, mentioned Sonia Arakkal, a coverage fellow on the Perth USAsia Centre, an Australian think-tank.

Canberra’s aggressive method in direction of Beijing has sparked issues amongst sections of Australia’s enterprise neighborhood due to the potential implications for the economic system, she mentioned.

“A free commerce settlement with India would assist Morrison showcase that the federal government is creating options to China,” Arakkal instructed Al Jazeera.

Pure commerce companions

Not that India and Australia are ready for the CECA to ramp up commerce: Already, the newest knowledge from the ministry of commerce in New Delhi means that at simply lower than $20bn, bilateral commerce in 2021-2022 has already surpassed pre-pandemic ranges.

However a free commerce settlement (FTA) might assist propel each nations down paths they’ve recognized as central to their financial futures, mentioned Natasha Jha Bhaskar, common supervisor on the Newland World Group, a company advisory agency that focuses on India-Australia commerce.

Underneath Modi, India has made the event of an export-oriented manufacturing sector a precedence and is providing subsidies to overseas corporations establishing manufacturing models within the nation.

“Australia — a extremely globalized economic system the place commerce accounts for 44 p.c of nominal GDP (gross home product) — is a superb accomplice for this,” Bhaskar mentioned to Al Jazeera. Australia’s experience in biotech analysis and improvement additionally makes it a pure accomplice for India, a pharma large, she mentioned.

India has declared a aim of transitioning all new automobiles away from fossil fuels to electrical by 2030. And Australia is house to the world’s second-biggest reserves of lithium, a key element of electrical automobile batteries.

“There’s a technological shift that the federal government of Narendra Modi is taking a look at, and Australia is a crucial component of that,” mentioned Arakkal.

Australia has a lot to achieve from the CECA too. China was by far the only greatest marketplace for Australian wine, an trade that noticed exports drop by 30 p.c final yr after Beijing imposed tariffs of as much as 218 p.c as part of its retaliatory steps towards Canberra.

As part of the free commerce settlement with Australia, India is anticipated to considerably scale back its personal vital duties on imported wine, which could be as excessive as 150 p.c. That might assist Australian firms construct a brand new market rather than China.

Don’t count on ‘dramatic development’

To make sure, there stay challenges and limitations to the India-Australia financial partnership.

“We must always not overstate the prospects for dramatic development,” cautioned Ian Corridor, a professor of worldwide relations at Griffith College and the writer of the ebook, Modi and the Reinvention of Indian International Coverage.

“India just isn’t as hungry for Australian coal, iron ore, and grain as first Japan and South Korea after which China grew to become,” Corridor instructed Al Jazeera. “Equally, Australia just isn’t going to change into as essential to India because the US market is for companies.”

The truth is, India stays reluctant to open up agriculture beneath the commerce deal, frightened about home political strain in a delicate sector. Whereas New Delhi has not too long ago dropped tariffs on lentils, it’s unlikely to take action on wheat, Corridor mentioned.

On the identical time, Canberra’s notoriously strict border and migration insurance policies have lengthy annoyed New Delhi, which would really like Australia to ease these up for Indian college students and expert professionals.

A few of that might be addressed within the “early harvest” deal, as interim commerce pacts are referred to as, and would assist Australia too, mentioned Bhaskar, at a time when authorities knowledge exhibits that the nation has almost 400,000 job vacancies — a pointy rise from mid-2021.

An interim deal would additionally present “goodwill and momentum”, Corridor mentioned, although the upcoming election in Australia injects uncertainty over whether or not the 2 nations will notice a complete pact if the federal government in Canberra adjustments. Bhaskar mentioned she hoped the 2 international locations would “simply contemplate a full-fledged CECA as an alternative of an interim deal” to get rid of that danger.

Certainly, each Australia and India have not too long ago pressed the accelerator on free commerce offers extra broadly — past their bilateral negotiations. In December, Australia inked an FTA with the UK, whereas India and the United Arab Emirates signed a deal final month.

Not like the commerce negotiations with Australia which have taken 11 years, New Delhi started talks with Abu Dhabi on their FTA solely final yr. But the largest energy of an India-Australia commerce deal would possibly paradoxically lie exactly within the lengthy years it has taken the 2 sides to get thus far, specialists say. It’s now a mature relationship, not love at first sight.

“Either side perceive one another’s constraints,” mentioned Corridor. China seemingly didn’t imply to play cupid, however India and Australia gained’t thoughts.