Australian PM Morrison cooks Khichdi to celebrate India-Australia FTA

New Delhi: Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, on Saturday, took to Instagram and posted a couple of pictures celebrating the new interim free trade agreement (FTA) with India. Morrison dropped pictures informing his followers that he chose to cook curry for dinner from his 'dear friend' Prime Minister Narendra Modi, including khichdi.

He wrote, "To celebrate our new trade agreement with India, the curries I chose to cook for curry night tonight are all from my dear friend PM Modi's Gujarat province, including his favourite Khichdi. Jen, girls and mum all approve."

Australia signed a trade agreement with India on April 2 in a virtual ceremony. The Australia-India Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement would exempt 85% of Australian goods from tariffs and 95% of Indian products.

The deal comes in order to increase exports between the two countries by billions of dollars. India, which is Australia's largest source of international students, will benefit greatly from the agreement.

China dominates key Australian markets including pharmaceuticals, textiles, plastics, toys, footwear and leather goods. Now the new trade agreement could make India an alternative to China, the two added on condition of anonymity.

Recently, there has been friction between Canberra and Beijing which has brought several official and unofficial Chinese trade sanctions on Australian exports, including coal, beef, seafood, wine, and barley.