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Rediff.com  » Business » Australia bullish over trade with India

Australia bullish over trade with India

Source: PTI
March 08, 2006 18:32 IST
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Australian Prime Minister John Howard on Wednesday said the regional governments in his country were "notoriously bad" in running businesses and "delinquent" in handling commercial enterprises, as different companies had different approaches.

With the opening of the economy in India, there is a huge opportunity for economic relationships between the two countries, he said, addressing businessmen from South India at a luncheon meeting organised by the Indo-Australian Chamber of Commerce in Chennai.

Howard, who is leading a huge business delegation on his second visit to India, said that Australia was the third most preferred destination for Indian students to study, after the United States and the Great Britain. "Many Post-graduate students are coming to Australia from India than from any other country in the world," he said.

The number of tourists to Australia from India were also on the rise.

Howard said Australia had a "great goodwill" towards India. "We admire what you had achieved. We are enthusiastic about what your country will achieve in future. There is little doubt about the significance of the economic development between the two countries in the 21st century," the Australia prime minister said.

Pointing out that India, over the past few years, had attracted foreign investment from all over the world especially from several Australian companies, Howard said India was a "very young country" while Australia had an "aging population," which naturally invited enormous implications, in terms of growing relevance to the Indian service industry.

India would stand to benefit from Australian investment in mining, manufacturing, energy and infrastructure development, besides high growth in the areas of education and tourism.

"There were also opportunities between Australia and India as there was enormous potential from the middle class population (300 million in Australia and 800 million in

India), indicative of the voracious appetite of the consumers," the prime minister said.

President of the Chamber, K M Mammen, said the potential for Indo-Australian partnership was much greater now. There was potential in areas like agro-industries and infrastructure development. Australia should be able to utilise India's vast human resources potential. Australian technology and Indian human resources should make a formidable combination to reach out to the world community.

According to a brief note circulated to the invitees, the two-way trade in goods and services totalled $9.4 billion in 2005 with Australian merchandise exports to India reaching over $6.9 billion.

Australia exported $937 million worth of services to India in 2005, a jump of 39 per cent over the previous year.

Australia is India's 8th largest overseas investor, with close to $1 billion approved for around 140 joint ventures. Indian investment in Australia was also worth over Aus$1billion.
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