Albanese is set to arrive in India this March to lock the India-Australia Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement deal…reports Asian Lite News
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is set to visit India “in just a few weeks’ time.” PM Albanese announced last year that he will visit India in March 2023 to lock India-Australia Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (ECTA) deal and upgrade the relationship. In a bilateral meeting with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, where PM Albanese discussed Australia’s relationship with India, he said, “Minister, can I welcome you, very much, back to Australia. You’re a regular visitor here. And I, of course, am looking forward to being in India in just a few weeks’ time now for the bilateral visit. And I thank Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi for the invitation.”
Albanese is set to arrive in India this March to lock the India-Australia Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (ECTA) deal and upgrade the relationship between the two countries.
The two sides will carry out discussions on a variety of issues like clean energy, tech, digital trade and procurements.
Speaking about the Quad Leaders meeting which will be hosted in the first half of this year, Albanese said, “And then, of course, I will welcome the Quad Leaders meeting, including Prime Minister Modi, that we will be hosting here in just a short period of time in the first half of the year.”
The Australian PM also talked about another visit for the G20 in the second half of this year.
“And then, of course, there will be another visit for the G20 in the year’s second half. And I know that my Treasurer is there, I think, next week for a series of meetings that will be hosted in India for the G20. It will be an important period,” said Albanese.
He also reiterated that the Australia-India relationship “goes from strength to strength” and highlighted that “economic relationship is important.”
“Our relationship goes from strength to strength. I’ve already had a number of meetings with your Prime Minister. And our economic relationship is important. I think we have complementary economies,” said Albanese.
The India-Australia Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (ECTA) entered force on December 29, 2022. Under the pact, Australia is offering zero-duty access to India for about 96.4 per cent of exports (by value) from the day the agreement is enforced.
India will benefit from preferential market access provided by Australia on 100 per cent of its tariff lines, including all the labour-intensive sectors of export interest to India, such as Gems and Jewellery, Textiles, leather, footwear, furniture, food, and agricultural products, engineering products, medical devices and automobiles.
On the other hand, India will be offering preferential access to Australia on over 70 per cent of its tariff lines, including lines of export interest to Australia, which are primarily raw materials and intermediaries such as coal, mineral ores and wines.
The Australian PM also underscored the importance of defence partnership with India.
“I look forward to strengthening that as well, as well as on security issues. Operation Malabar, of course, will occur in the coming period, which we are hosting. We have much to talk about today,” added Albanese.
Malabar, which began as a bilateral exercise, is now one of the cornerstones of military interoperability of the Quad forces.
The Exercise Malabar is a Naval Exercise between India’s, the United States, and Japan’s navies. In recent years, Australia has also participated in the exercise, dubbed the ‘Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (QUAD).’
The exercise takes place in the Indian Ocean. Depending on the complexity and missions involved, the exercise lasts anywhere from 6 to 14 sea days. (ANI)
‘Australia strongest supporter of India’s G20 presidency’
Minister for Industry, Energy and Emissions Reduction of Australia, Chris Bowen on Saturday said that there is no stronger supporter of India’s G20 chairmanship than Australia and that the country will support India in every possible way.
“There is no stronger supporter of G20 chairmanship by India than Australia. We will support you in every way possible,” Bowen said at the Raisina @ Sydney/Keynote speech and conversation in Australia. Bowen during the joint keynote with Jaishankar said, “This is an excellent year for India to chair the G20 and from my point of view, chair also the Clean Energy Ministerial, an important partnership of the world’s key economies working together to accelerate the global energy transformation. A total of 1000 delegates usually attend the meeting, it’ll be a very big meeting.”
The Raisina @ Sydney/Keynote speech and conversation in Australia was organized jointly by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) and India’s Observer Research Foundation (ORF).
The Raisina Dialogue is India’s premier conference on geopolitics and geoeconomics committed to addressing the most challenging issues facing the global community, according to ORF.
The Australian Minister siad the theme of India’s G20 presidency “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam” or “One Earth. One Family. One Future”, shows the importance India is going to place on interconnected sustainability. “I want to acknowledge the enormous effort that India is putting into the meeting of the first energy transition working group,” he said.
“My officials just returned from India and they have reported to me how much effort India is putting into its role as the G20 host. I am looking forward to attending not only the clean energy ministerial and G20 energy minister’s meeting in Goa, but also the G20 environment ministers meeting in Chennai a little while afterwards,” the minister said.
Bowen further said that Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese looks forward to his bilateral visit to India in March. “I predict discussion on climate and energy will figure prominently in discussion between Prime Minister Modi and the Australian Prime Minister,” he said.
While talking about Jaishankar, Bowen said, “Jaishankar you are not only the foreign minister of an important friend but you should be acknowledged as one of the most thoughtful and impactful thinkers in matters related to our complicated region.”
“The fact that it is your second visit to Australia in just six months underlines the importance you place on the relationship which we deeply respect and deeply acknowledge,” Bowen said.
He further said that there are some disagreements among statisticians about if India has just become the world’s most populous nation or if it is about to become the world’s most populous nation in the next month or so. “But either way, India is taking its place at the top of the global population mountain,” he said.
Raisina@Sydney Conference, which began today with ‘Business Breakfast’, will involve ministerial and high-level government representations as well as participation from industry and civil society.
This mega event will also include panel and keynote addresses by leading regional think tanks on issues ranging from geopolitics to technology and economics. (ANI)