In May this year, the Australian Trade Minister Craig Emerson announced negotiations had formally begun for a free trade agreement with India.

It follows the release of a feasibility paper on such an agreement released by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade last year.

India is already Australia’s third biggest export market, accounting for 8 percent of our total exports. It’s a rapidly growing economy, so it makes sense that we forge close trade ties.

I asked Professor Raghbendra Jha, executive director of the Australia South Asia Research Centre at the ANU’s Crawford School of Economics and Government, what each side seeks to gain from such an agreement.

First published on CBS News