India, Australia Set to further Bilateral Trade

Jan 17, 2019

An interactive meeting in honour of Hon. Jason Clare, Shadow Minister for Trade and Investment from North Australia on ‘Strengthening Australia-India Relations’ was organised by MVIRDC World Trade Centre Mumbai and All India Association of Industry. Hon. Clare said, “Today, both Australia and India are engaged in the negotiation of two trade agreements, one is the 16-country Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) and the other is the bilateral free trade agreement. There is optimism that the RCEP agreement will be finalised in the next 12 months. After the conclusion of the RCEP pact, India and Australia will finalise their bilateral trade agreement.”

Hon. Clare said, “Even though India is a huge country, Australia’s trade with India is similar to that of New Zealand, which has a population of just 4.7 million. There are only eight direct flights a week between Sydney and India as compared to 21 daily flight between Australia and China and 35 daily direct flights to Singapore. In the last 10 years, only a few Bollywood movies were shot in Australia, although the country has tremendous scenic beauties.”

Hon. Clare further added, “The business communities in Australia and India must partner together to target the middle class population in Asia which will be 3 billion by 2030.”

Hon. Clare said, “Today, India has 850 million people below the age of 35 and Australia seeks to engage with this segment of the population productively. Government of Australia supports its students to study and undertake internship projects in India. The number of students choosing Australia as education destination has grown in double digit in the last one year. Similarly, in the tourism sector, the number of Indian tourists visiting Australia has grown 16% in the last 12 months.”

Captain Somesh Batra, Vice Chairman, MVIRDC World Trade Centre Mumbai said, “Today, the bilateral trade is in favour of Australia, with India’s exports at USD 4,012 million and imports at USD 13,994 million during 2017-18. Although China is the largest trade partner of Australia today, the country’s trade is likely to shift towards India because of huge untapped potential. Australia is the third largest education destination for Indian students. There is tremendous opportunity for collaboration in areas such as infrastructure, healthcare, agriculture and defence.”

The interactive meeting was followed by Networking Reception.

From (L-R): Ms. Rupa Naik, Hon. Jason Clare, Captain Somesh Batra and Mr. Y. R. Warerkar.