Australia steps to boost ties with India

Dr. S. Jaishankar meets Victoria’s Premier Daniel Andrews. Photo- @DrSJaishankar

MELBOURNE, 14 FEBRUARY 2022: India’s Minister of External Affairs Minister, Dr. S. Jaishankar had a hectic schedule here. The Quad meeting ended in three days and that included apart from official talks, a meeting with Australian PM Scott Morrison, a visit to the MCG, a reception by the Indian High Commissioner Mr. Manpreet Vohra, a meeting with Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews, a visit to the Shrine of Remembrance and a meeting with the Dawoodi Bohra community. The Quad meeting was preceded by Dr. Jaishankar addressing a select gathering at the Australia India Institute, University of Melbourne.

The India-Australia relations seem to be flourishing despite India having its own stand about the Russia-Ukraine situation and it not finding mention in the joint Quad statement. The emphasis on containing China and its ambitions in the Indo-Pacific is the one that makes Australia-India relations click.

As Dr. Jaishankar signs the Bhramos missile deal with the Philippines, Australia today announced a slew of measures to strengthen relations with ‘one of Australia’s most important partners in the Indo-Pacific region.’ A media release by five Federal Ministers (Foreign Minister Marise Payne, Minister for Employment Stuart Robert, Minister for Communications Paul Fletcher and the Minister for Immigration Alex Hawke) announced ‘Strengthening our ties with India’ with details as follows:

“The $11.2 million Maitri Scholarships Program will attract and support high achieving Indian students to study at Australian universities. It will showcase Australia’s globally renowned academic and research institutions, particularly in science, technology, engineering, mathematics and health.

The $3.5 million Maitri Grants and Fellowships Program will build links between our future leaders, supporting mid-career Australian and Indian professionals to collaborate on strategic research and shared priorities.

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The $6.1 million Australia-India Maitri Cultural Partnership will boost the role of creative industries in our economic and people-to-people ties. This partnership will also promote artistic talent and cultural exchanges in our two countries’ world class visual and performing arts, literature, film, television and music industries.

Following meetings between the Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment, the Hon Dan Tehan MP, and India’s Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal in New Delhi, the Government has also renewed the Australia-India Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Tourism Cooperation and launched the Australia India Infrastructure Forum.

The renewed MoU positions tourism operators to take advantage of our international border re-opening to all fully vaccinated eligible visa holders, including tourists and business travellers from 21 February. Under the MoU, Australia and India will promote travel between the two markets and advance cooperation on tourism policy, data sharing, training and industry engagement. Pre-pandemic, India was Australia’s fastest-growing source of international visitors. In 2019, almost 400,000 visitors from India visited Australia and spent a combined total of $1.8 billion.

The Australia India Infrastructure Forum will serve as a hub to promote two-way investment in infrastructure. As a side initiative of the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement, currently under negotiation with India, it will also support our broader trade and investment objectives. A new $5.8 million Bay of Bengal Connectivity Partnership will expand this work to other countries in the region.”

The media release finally says, ” These initiatives reflect our nations’ shared commitment to cooperation and exchange, as set out in the Australia-India Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, agreed in June 2020.”

By Neeraj Nanda

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