Australia and India work on 'Strategic Partnership' in Perth

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Created on Tuesday, 05 November 2013 15:33

Written by Editorial staff

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop met with Indian External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid on Thursday (October 31) to discuss the Strategic Partnership that exists between our two countries.

Ms Bishop explained in a November 1 statement that Australia and India's relationship is an important one to the government, which is making a stalwart effort to make sure it remains strong.

The first topic on both leaders' agendas was the Civil Nuclear Cooperation Agreement. This would see Australia selling uranium to India and is still in the process of being finalised.

Ms Bishop and Mr Khurshid are still dedicated to making the Agreement a reality, and negotiations are set to continue in three weeks' time.

In addition to this, Ms Bishop informed the External Affairs Minister that Australia is interested in "working closely" with India on a number of areas "of common priority". In particular, she raised the issue of investment and explained the government is committed to open trade.

"We agreed that conclusion of a high-quality Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement would underpin a further significant expansion of the trade and investment relationship to mutual benefit," explained Ms Bishop.

The leaders also discussed energy security and strategic cooperation and confirmed that a cyber security dialogue - the first of its kind - would take place sometime during the first half of next year.

This dialogue will focus on taking a joint approach to such threats as transnational crime.

Finally, Ms Bishop and Mr Khurshid touched on Australia and India's relationship from an immigration standpoint. Australian migration agents may be interested to learn that India is our country's largest source of skilled migrant workers.

Not only this, but it's also our second-largest source of international students. And, of course, India is one of Australia's fastest-growing inbound tourist markets.

According to Tourism Australia's 'India Strategic Plan' for 2020, Indians arriving in our country on immigration visas will be injecting between $1.9 and $2.3 billion annually into the Australian economy by the end of the decade.

This is an exciting time for our two countries. If you live in India and are interested in travelling to Australia for business or pleasure, you may want to get in touch with a migration agent today.

He or she will help you to determine which immigration visas are right for you and ensure the application process is as easy and efficient as possible.