Australia scrambles to be on board the ‘Indian express’

By Neena Bhandari, IANS

Sydney : Just a decade ago, Australia had snapped all bilateral relations with India following the 1998 Pokhran nuclear tests. But today it wants to export uranium to fuel the country’s civilian nuclear power plants. The realization dawns that Australia needs India more than vice versa.


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From a free trade agreement (FTA) to backing India at international fora, the John Howard government doesn’t want to miss the bus in grabbing opportunities in a country that is emerging as one of the world’s fastest growing economies.

As veteran foreign affairs analyst Greg Sheridan wrote in the only national newspaper, The Australian: “The Indian express is leaving the station. The only good place for us is on board.”

The Australian said the federal cabinet has endorsed the submission by Foreign Minister Alexander Downer for the new strategic approach towards India.

The series of specific proposals in the submission include uranium exports to India’s civilian nuclear plants, active diplomatic support for New Delhi’s bid to be a permanent member of the UN Security Council, providing utmost importance to energy security and elevating the joint working group on minerals and energy to ministerial level, joint naval exercises, intensified cooperation in counter-terrorism, peacekeeping, all aspects of maritime security and greater engagement on border and transport security.

According to The Australian, the federal cabinet has accepted the recommendations in the submission, which also includes seeking a permanent presence of the Australian Federal Police in New Delhi and giving consideration to the establishment of an Australia-India forum for government, business and other leaders to promote bilateral cooperation.

While news from India seldom made it to the front pages of Australian newspapers or prime time television earlier, the India story today is very different.

In a historic shift in bilateral relations, Australia is planning to negotiate an FTA with India similar to the one with the US, China and Japan.

An FTA with India would provide enormous opportunities for Australian companies in the services sector, apart from the obvious synergy in energy trade and its dazzling success in IT. This could be worth billions of dollars to Australia, wrote Sheridan in The Australian.

India will this year become Australia’s fourth-largest export market, and Australian exports to India have been growing at more than 30 per cent a year throughout this decade.

The government has identified mining, agriculture, services and investment as sectors for potential large-scale expansion in Australian trade with India.

India and Australia, being members of the Commonwealth, share synergies in the legal system, parliamentary democracy, English language and obsession for cricket. Recognising India’s growing importance as an economic and strategic power in the Asia Pacific region and globally, the submission contains specific initiatives aimed at catapulting the bilateral relationship to a new high.

The Howard government will move to provide more legal cooperation mechanisms. It wants to strengthen the education, training and science relationship, including the provision of more scholarships for Indian students to study in Australia, says the newspaper.

The growing influx of full fee paying Indian students is reaping rich dividends for Australia. Today India is the second largest source of overseas students and a significant contributor to Australia’s international education market, which is worth AUD9.8 billion to the national economy.

Surprisingly, despite 230,000 migrants of Indian origin, Australia is only now looking at establishing an Indian studies centre. Recently, a strong case was put forth to establish a major Indian centre of learning at Sydney University, which would encompass Indian languages, art, culture and history.

“The momentum is building, but there is a long way to go. There should be more two-way exchanges of students, joint research collaborations and blended degrees,” says Australia India Business Council chairman Emeritus Neville Roach.

In March this year, Prime Minister John Howard announced a new $25 million bilateral research programme with India.

Despite historic links, the two countries still don’t know enough about each other and simplistic stereotypes are blurring the larger picture. Recent years have seen an array of linkages at every level from government and ministerial to people-to-people exchanges.

“The growth and influence of India will be a defining feature of the 21st century,” says Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade Secretary Michael L’Estrange.

He points out that the broader hopes and expectations in the India-Australia relationship have remained unfulfilled, but today it is a very positive and dynamic story. “We’ve only touched the tip of an iceberg in this bilateral relationship.”

No Indian prime minister has visited Australia since 1986. Australia will have to be proactive in getting benefits of Indian opportunities. As India consolidates and defines its role as a superpower in the region and the world, there certainly is a sense of excitement and anticipation in this bilateral relationship.

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