Thank you very much Mr Chairman. Mr Kamal Nath, the Minister for Commerce and Industry, Charles Goode, Chairman of ANZ and Woodside, Dr J J Irani, Mr Vishnu R Dusad, Mr Chugh and Mr Poddar and Mr Aggarwal, Associated Chambers of Commerce, High Commissioners, ladies and gentlemen.
Could I tell Mr Nath that yes, I do, I suppose have ten fingers on trade matters. I found back in the late 1970s when as a rather fledgling Minister I started dealing with the member countries of the then European Common Market and unless you exercised every part of your brain and your anatomy in grappling with them you would not get very far and nothing has changed over the last 28 years. The European Union, on matters relating to agriculture, which is important, not only to Australia but also to India, remains as obdurate and as obstinate and as uncooperative as ever.
Ladies and gentlemen, I first visited New Delhi in 1964. I was not then a Member of Parliament, it was in fact ten years before I became a Member of Parliament. I'd just qualified as a lawyer and I was embarking on that traditional Australian thing of going away for a year or two and centring myself in London and doing Europe. But I decided that before going to Europe I would travel through Asia and one of the countries I chose to go to was India. I didn't stay long enough here but I've not forgotten that experience and one of the things I did when I was here was I wandered into the Supreme Court and I sat in on a constitutional case. It was an argument between the central government in New Delhi and the States and I felt very much at home, because that sort of thing occurs constitutionally in other respects in Australia. And it reminded me of just how many things we had in common. The proceedings were conducted in English. At one stage, one of the counsel for the States argued on the basis of a couple of decisions of the High Court of Australia, cases that I was still vaguely familiar with from my time at the law school because I'd never really gone on to develop a large constitutional practice after I left the law school, and I did feel very much at home.
And in a way, well that was a metaphor for the relationship between Australia and India at the time. There is a lot of history and there is a lot of tradition to it. It was nice if you sort of understood all that part of it. We spoke the English language; we had the common historical association with Great Britain and the Commonwealth and all of those sorts of things. But in 1964 it was a pretty dormant relationship in other respects apart from sport. We didn't trade as much as we do now, our foreign policies were at that time, I think it's honest enough to say, about as far apart as you could possibly get. India was then determinedly a non-aligned country in terms of foreign policy. That was its right. I don't offer any criticism; I simply make it as an observation. And really, in all the years that have gone by, it's only in the last decade or more that that has begun to change and change very profoundly.
Essentially we still have those historical ties. Thankfully we still have the common bonds of language because it does make it so much easier and English is so much the language of international business and commerce and that is enormously to the advantage of both of our countries.
India's economic progress in the last decade or so has been nothing short of spectacular and it's commanding the attention of every country in the world. If I could just of course put in a bit of a plug for my own country if any of you might think that's necessary, there are a lot of statistics spouted about the Australian economy and it has done very well. One that came to my notice by courtesy of my Treasurer Peter Costello - a few days ago he made the observation that in population size, Australia is number 53 in the world, but our economy is the 14th largest which is a reasonable illustration of the strength and the sophistication and the virility of the Australian economy.
Our sporting links are, of course, legendary and I want to say something very briefly about those in a moment amongst a number of small announcements I have to make. But before I come to that, the best way I can perhaps describe the significance of where India is in the world today and therefore the great significance of the relationship between our two countries is that in so many ways, India is approaching a special rendezvous with her destiny. India was always destined to be the power that she is rapidly becoming. India was always destined because of her size, the basic strength of her institutions, the diversity of her cultural and religious makeup, yet bound by a common commitment to the future of the country and also her capacity to interact and change as the world has changed. I feel that Australia is part of that advance by India towards that very special destiny.
Now this hasn't happened by accident. The economic changes that have been undertaken started way back in the 1990s when the Indian economy began to open up and its leaders began to recognise that we had moved into a world of globalisation. There has been a lot of debate about globalisation, but it's pretty obvious I think to most people now that globalisation is something that's rather like the weather. It's here and it's not going to go away and people who think that we can reverse globalisation, that we can stop the spinning of the wheel of globalisation and get off are completely deluding themselves. And what we have to do is take advantage of globalisation and those countries in Asia that began to take advantage of globalisation earlier in time than others are those countries that have done extremely well. And beginning in the early 1990s, India began to open her economy and the results of course have been put on display by the earlier speakers and I won't repeat the figures.
But I do want to touch very briefly on the point that was made at the beginning and the size of India's middle class because India's middle class is really about the most significant thing that's so far come along in the 21st Century and that is the rapid emergence of a global middle class. For the first time in the history of the world, the middle class's epicentre is going to be in Asia and not in Europe and North America. Through all of human history until now, you spoke of a middle class and you talked of Europe, you talked of North America, you talked of Australasia and tiny pockets in South America and Asia and even tinier pockets in Africa. But now and increasingly as the years go by, the two countries that will comprise a middle class that will match, and in time surpass that of Europe and the United States are of course India and China. And the significance of that, not only for this part of the world, but the significance of that for a country like Australia is enormous, the significance of that for the countries of Europe and North America is also enormous. And India of course will play a growing and ever influential role and that of course is why the relationship between our two countries is of such enormous significance.
Our relationship of course is not only an economic one; it is also a strategic one. We both share a common endeavour in resisting and fighting terrorism. We may have different perspectives about countries such as Iraq; we can barely have a different perspective about a country such as Afghanistan, a country very near to India, a country with which India shares so much, a country which is struggling to embrace democracy. And as the Minister said, as the sixth oldest continually functioning democracy in the world, Australia interacting with numerically the biggest democracy in the world, we both have a common interest in the success of the democratic embrace that is within the achievement of Afghanistan.
As a country which is friendly to both India and Pakistan, I welcome very warmly the improved relations that have occurred between the two countries in recent years regarding the vexed issue of Kashmir. I don't intend for a moment that the dispute is settled. Knowing something of the history of it and the complexity of it and the intensity of feeling on both sides I can only say that the improvement in the climate is remarkable, the gesture of India towards Pakistan in the wake of the tragic earthquake last year was an earnest of your country's goodwill and your country's good intentions.
Australia seeks in every way a partnership with India where we can work together for peace and stability in the region. I welcome the growing defence links between our two countries. Our military traditions are not entirely dissimilar. They have some many common origins and in particular I welcome the fact that this afternoon after my meeting with the Prime Minister there will be a Memorandum of Understanding signed on defence cooperation. And this will be a formal expression of our mutual interest in working together more closely in defence matters.
India will be an observer at the Proliferation Security Initiative exercise in Darwin, Australia next moth. I welcome that fact and I hope, in time, India may see the wisdom of becoming a member of the Proliferation Security Initiative. I welcome the attendance of India at the inaugural meeting in Sydney on the 12th of January this year on the Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate, which brings together India and China and Japan and Australia and the United States and Korea, a group of countries all committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, but not necessarily all seeing that the complete realisation of that goal can be achieved through the Kyoto approach.
Our bilateral trade, of course, has grown enormously. Our two-way trade in goods and services totalled $9.4 billion last year. India is now Australia's sixth largest merchandise export market, and as an export destination has grown faster than any of our other top 30 export markets over the past five years.
Energy of course plays a critical role in our economic relationship and I know in your minds will be the agreement signed between the United States and India only three days ago regarding the nuclear industry. This will be an issue to be discussed between myself and the Indian Prime Minister later today and I will be interested to hear more about that arrangement and I will be interested to hear the views that the Prime Minister may wish to put to me in relation to it.
Australia supplies 25 per cent of India's gold market, and Australian coal is used in more than 50 per cent of the steel that is produced in India. And with the large global increase in demand for energy, the international market for some resources - such as LNG - is extremely tight and I am encouraged that people from both India and Australia are working on these issues and I note that the leader of the Australian delegation Mr Charles Goode of Woodside is with us today and his knowledge of those matters is very, very impressive indeed.
The establishment of the Australia-India Joint Working Group on Energy and Minerals will be an important vehicle to address these issues. I am very pleased that this afternoon I will witness, with the Prime Minister, the signing of an Australia-India Trade and Economic Framework Agreement and this will provide an important basis for the facilitation and the future development of the trade and economic relationship and it will encourage closer strategic cooperation in many of the key economic sectors. As you know Mr Chairman, I have brought with me on this visit, or I have been accompanied, let me put it that way, on this visit by a very representative and senior group of Australian businessmen, that of course, represent the hope of the future so far as economic cooperation between India and Australia is concerned. There is only so much that governments can do unless businessmen and women from both countries make the appropriate decisions and give the appropriate business leadership, nothing is going to be achieved. But it is of course the role of governments to do everything they can to facilitate business development.
As I said a moment ago, the relationship is not just an economic one; its people-to-people contacts and cooperation across diverse aspects represent a very significant element of this relationship and developing contacts in education and in science is of critical importance. I should note that right at the moment, Professor Ian Frazer is currently visiting India and he is the current Australian of the Year and he is highlighting on his visit Australian expertise in medical research. Professor Frazer has developed a vaccine against cervical cancer and this extraordinary achievement will benefit millions of women around the world, not least in developing countries.
And against this background, let me announce that the Australian Government will allocate $25 million over the next five years to support bilateral research collaboration through the Strategic Research Fund and Exchange Scholarships.
I am also delighted to announce that we are signing a Biotechnology Memorandum of Understanding which will foster research cooperation in a field with significant potential
Australia is also becoming an increasingly favoured destination for Indian students. Over 25,000 students studying in Australia in 2005, mainly postgraduate study by coursework, India is as mentioned earlier, now our second largest market for students. The numbers of Indian students coming to Australia has grown by about 35 per cent in the three-year period from 2002 to 2005.
India is now our second fastest growing inbound tourism market, and we expect that process to accelerate. And to facilitate this growth, I am pleased to announce that the Australian Government will allow Indian citizens to access our tourist e-visa scheme, with implementation to occur later this year.
With the rapid expansion of tourism and education links between our two countries, I am pleased that I will be witnessing this afternoon the signing of the bilateral air services agreement to which reference was made a few moments ago. This will allow an Indian carrier into the Australia-India aviation market either operating its own aircraft services or in cooperation with an Australian carrier under code share arrangements. It will provide greater commercial flexibility for airlines to undertake their operations and provide better services for passengers.
It can only assist the understanding between the peoples of our two countries when we have Australian TV stars featuring in Indian films, as was the case with the movie Salaam Namaste, which many of you have obviously seen and can pronounce the title better than I just did. Mr Chairman, the Indian entertainment industry is accessing Australia's expertise in film production and services - and featuring Australian cities in its movies, which must now be very, very familiar to many Indian movie-goers.
And of course the Minister mentioned the Commonwealth Games which will start in Melbourne next week to be followed four years later by the Commonwealth Games here in New Delhi. And that great coming together of the young men and women of the Commonwealth is an event which is a reminder of the size and diversity of that organisation.
I mentioned as other speakers inevitably do whenever there is a gathering of Australians and Indians the common link we have through sport and most particularly, cricket. It goes without saying that of all of the figures in that great game that graced the playing fields of Australia or India or England or indeed anywhere else, none acquired greater fame that Donald George Bradman. And that name still embodies a very special magic and it was truly remarked to me some years ago by another Indian Prime Minister that the best known Australian names in India are undoubtedly Bradman and Border and perhaps in more recent years the name of Steve Waugh could well be added to those two names. And equally from Australia's point of view there is no better known Indian name than that of Sachin Tendulkar.
But Bradman of course is universally recognised as the greatest player the game has produced and I'm therefore very proud to announce that the Australian Government will contribute $1 million in sponsorship towards the Bradman Exhibition tour of India. This will be a unique display of Bradman memorabilia - a display which is unparalleled in the cricketing world. The exhibition is being assembled specifically for the Indian public, so that as many people as possible in this cricket loving country will have the opportunity to see it first hand. The Exhibition will travel to New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata later this year.
Ladies and gentlemen, my objective today has been to try and put into proper context the relationship between our two countries. It is a relationship built on shared values, it's a relationship bound together by a common commitment to democracy, it's a relationship made easy by a common language, it's a relationship which is enriched and enthused by our common participation in a number of sports that we all love.
But it's also a relationship which is built on a hard-headed assessment of our respective interests. We can benefit from a closer economic relationship. India has many assets that are of great benefit to Australia. It has superbly educated, intelligent people, not only in IT but in many fields of human endeavour. Australia likewise has high quality, well-educated scientists and doctors and lawyers and accountants. We have very high standards of corporate governance. We understand the importance of the sanctity of private property and business dealings and both of our countries and most particularly the business communities of our two societies recognise that in a globalised world, investment goes to where the better return exists and the security of your investment is most likely guaranteed. And both of our societies place an enormous premium therefore on high standards of corporate governance and the security of a mature legal system.
Circumstances have brought us together. We have an opportunity in the early part of the 21st Century to build that relationship and to build it in a partnership which brings together the areas of our economy which complement each other.
I was last in India five years ago. The Minister rightly remarked that this country has changed enormously in that five-year period, and so indeed has the relationship. On behalf of all of the Australians present, I know I speak for them in saying to our Indian hosts thank you very much and to you in particular Minister for having us here. I hope that this visit, in a significant way, makes a contribution to bringing our two countries ever closer together.
Thank you.
[ends]