Round The World
14
October 2014, New Delhi
India-Australia
Ties
RED
CARPET AWAITS MODI
By Ashok B
Sharma
Relations between India and Australia in the Asia-Pacific
region seem to be warming up. After Tony Abbott’s recent visit to India, it is now the turn for Australia to lay the red carpet for the Prime
Minister Narendra Modi when he visits the country for G20 summit in Brisbane middle of next
month.
Abbott has extended invitation to
Modi who will be the first Indian Prime Minister to visit Australia since
Rajiv Gandhi came to see Bob Hawke in 1986. He will be one of the three world
leaders to address the joint session of the federal parliament. The other two
leaders to address the Australian parliament are the Chinese President Xi
Jinping and British Prime Minister David Cameron. Former Chinese President Hu
Jintao addressed Australian parliament in 2003 and so did the former British Prime
Minister Tony Blair. But this will be the first occasion for an Indian Prime
Minister to address the Australian Parliament. This shows the growing
recognition and acceptance of India.
But Australia
is equally conscious of keeping China
in good humour. It declined to join the India-US-Japan Trilateral, which is
being upgraded to the level of foreign ministers, at the instance of Beijing. But Abbott has
agreed for a first bilateral naval exercise with India scheduled in 2015. Both the
countries will join together in the commemoration of 100 years of the First
World War in which soldiers of both the countries fought side by side.
Australia has supported India’s full
membership of four international export control regimes – Nuclear Suppliers
Group, Missile Technology Control Regime, Wassenaar Agreement and Australia
Group and also membership of Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC).
Canberra has assured to be a
long-term uranium supplier to India
and cooperate in production of radio isotopes and nuclear safety. Abbott termed
this nuke handshake as “a sign of the mutual trust and confidence that our two
countries have in each other”
Abbott is appreciative of India’s Look East Policy and has recognised the
importance of India
as a “valuable partner” in Asia-Pacific region. He has also lauded Modi’s
recent visit to Japan
and termed the outcome as “successful”. He termed the geopolitical importance
of Asia-Pacific saying “So as economic weight shifts to the Indo-Pacific
region, the strategic balance moves too.”
Though Abbott is conscious of the
importance of Asia-Pacific region, it is ready to confront Russian President
Vladimir Putin at the G20 summit over Russia’s role in the shooting down
of Malaysia Airlines MH17, in which 38 Australians lost their lives. Abbott has
taken a strong personal interest in the MH17 disaster, in which 298 people were
killed, when Russian-backed separatists shot down a Malaysia Airlines passenger
jet over eastern Ukraine.
Along with the US, Russia is a key player in the
region. The relationship between NATO powers and Russia
has turned sour over the latter taking over Crimea.
The shooting down of Malaysian Airlines MH17 has added to the problem. Putin’s
assertive nature is not much appreciated by the West. Kiev
and the West have accused Moscow-backed separatists of shooting down the plane
with a surface-to-air BUK missile supplied by Russia. Moscow
denies the charge and has pointed the finger back at Kiev. Australia
has demanded that Russia
cooperate with the criminal investigation and help in booking the culprits to
justice.
Initially, Australia had
been reluctant for Putin to attend the G20, but member nations indicated that
he should, in order to address the geo-political tensions. At home Abbott faces
the strong opposition to Putin’s visit from the Opposition Leader Bill Shorten
who has reiterated his stance that he did not want Putin in the country. The
issue needs to be resolved in the interests of Asia-Pacific region. The ball is
now in Australia’s
court.
There are obvious reasons why Australia needs India more. India is already Australia’s fifth-largest export
market. Australia
wants the bilateral trade to grow to its full potential which is now stagnating
at only $15 billion. Further, Australia
is eager to conclude the negotiations on Comprehensive Economic Cooperation
Agreement (CECA) with India
by 2016 which would boost bilateral trade and investment. At present
Indian investment in Australia
is about $11 billion whereas Australian investment in India is $600
million. In fact, Australia
sees massive opportunity for investments in India
with Modi’s call for “Make in India”.
India too is interested in
investing in resource rich Australia.
Leading Indian investors like Sterlite Industries and Aditya Birla group are in
copper mines while Asian Paints and Reliance are in uranium exploration. Australia has massive reserves of uranium, gold,
copper, zinc among other minerals and its coal feeds power plants in India. In
fact, Australian coal, iron ore and gas has powered the economic
transformations of Japan, Korea and China.
Australia had worked over three
decades to boost its bilateral trade with China to the level of $150 billion.
While consolidating its gains there, Australia
now wants to tap the untapped potential in bilateral trade with India.
Both the countries are looking
forward for finalisation of Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP)
in the Indo-Pacific region. At present Australia is the chair of Indian
Ocean Rim Association. The region is important and concerns for maritime
security remain vital as trade grows. This apart, Australia has come to the rescue of Modi’s dream
project of cleaning river Ganga by signing an
agreement on water management.
Human resources development is an
area of India’s
interest. There is a 450,000-strong Indian community in Australia and
36,000 Indian students are pursuing their study there, particularly in vocation
education. India and Australia have
also agreed for cooperation in vocational education and training. Australia’s New Colombo Plan will now facilitate
Australian students to pursue their studies in India.
During Abbott’s visit a MoU signed
between the two countries for cooperation in sports will promote exchange
programmes, sharing of experiences, particularly so in cricket which is
interests to both the countries.
Modi’s forthcoming visit to Australia is
likely to be significant. Former Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh deliberately missed the bus to Australia by declining to
attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Perth hosted by Julia
Gillard in 2011 which many analysts believed was because the Labour government
reversed John Howard’s decision to allow uranium exports to India. Earlier
former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee declined to attend the CHOGM meeting
hosted by Howard in Coolum in 2002 which many viewed as a consequence of Canberra overreacting to India’s nuclear tests in 1998. All
eyes would now be on Modi in Brisbane.
---INFA
(Copyright,
India News & Feature Alliance)
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