Australia to lay emphasis on ‘economic diplomacy’ with India

The Australian Government is keen that foreign investment in their country grows and towards that is prioritising `economic diplomacy’, according to Stuart Campbell, Deputy Consul-General to South India, Australian Consulate General.

It is also interested in making the student exchange programme more two-way and hopes its `New Colombo Plan’ that enables Australian students to study in Asian universities, would lead to Australian students studying and working in India, he said.

Speaking at the inaugural session of `TiEcon Coimbatore 2014’ on Saturday he said the new Australian Government under Prime Minister Tony Abbott wanted to make it easier for both foreign and domestic companies to do business in the country. It was also prioritising `economic diplomacy’, aligning its diplomatic efforts to the goal of bringing long-term prosperity to Australia, to its trading partners including India, and to the Indo-Pacific region as a whole.

Campbell said Australia was also giving importance to concluding a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with countries such as India and was focussing on giving a boost to two-way investment from Australia to India and `critically from India to Australia’. He said there was nearly $10 billion of Indian investment in his country and he expected much more in the next five years. There was significant investment by Indian companies in (natural) resources sector and all the IT majors were present in Australia, apart from Indian banks, educational institutions, hospitality and construction companies.

He said economic relations between the two countries was steadily growing with bilateral trade doubling in the last seven years and investment levels, specifically Indian investment in Australia, a `genuinely strategic element to our relationship’.

He said South India was firmly on his Government’s radar and `Tamil Nadu is a priority state for us’. He said the State’s economic diversity, energy agenda and innovation infrastructure made it a `fertile ground for greater engagement’.

He said the 2011 Australian census showed that the country had more than 4 lakh Australians of Indian origin, which was double the 2006 census figure. He said in 2011-12 Indians were the largest source of skilled migrants to Australia and more Indians were travelling to his country for business, education and tourism. The latest census also showed that Hinduism was the fastest growing religion in Australia, and Punjabi the fastest growing language.

Campbell said this year would also see several ministerial level visits between the two countries, particularly after the elections were over. He expected reciprocal Prime Ministerial visits, including the new Indian Prime Minister’s visit to Australia in November for the G20 Summit, the first by an Indian PM to Australia since Rajiv Gandhi’s visit in 1986. The new Australian Government was committed to open trade and investment policies and to supporting economic reform and trade liberalisation.

K Ganesh, Serial Entrepreneur and Chairman-Portea Medical, said India with its huge population offered immense marketing opportunities in diverse sectors.

R Anusha, President TiE, Coimbatore, felt that the TiEcon, hosted for the first time in Coimbatore, offered professionals a great networking opportunity. J Jayanthra, Conference Chair, TiE, Coimbatore also addressed the session.

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