Thank you so much, Andrew. It’s lovely to be here at the Taj Hotel, one of the truly magnificent hotels of the world. And yes, I have been here before. Back in 1981 I spent three months as a backpacker roaming around India – this mysterious, fascinating, enthralling sub-continent, this world in one country – and I spent a lot of time in third-class compartments of railway carriages, I’d spent a lot of time in two rupee a night hotels and I thought, “I’m going to have to treat myself”. So, I came here to the Taj Hotel and I had the best lunch this hotel could provide and I’m sure that the breakfast we’re about to enjoy will be no less splendid than the lunch I had here 33 years ago.
India has changed enormously over the last 33 years. I can remember on my first day in Mumbai watching a bullock cart take material into a nuclear power station. Well, 33 years on, there aren’t that many bullock carts left in urban India, and the power stations – the nuclear power stations – are more sophisticated than ever.
Australia still doesn’t have nuclear power stations, but the fact of the matter is this is a country which has amazed the world over the last few decades with its growth and its development – the world’s second most populous country; on purchasing power terms, the world’s third largest economy, clearly, the emerging democratic superpower of the world and a country with which Australia has long and warm ties.
The purpose of this trip, as far as I’m concerned, is to acknowledge the importance of India in the wider world, acknowledge the importance of India to Australia’s future, to let the Government and the people of India know what Australia has to offer India and the wider world for our part, and to build on those stronger foundations.
Prime Minister Modi has said that India is open. He hasn’t used the phrase ‘Open for Business’, but he said, “Come, make in India”, and I think that that phrase, “Come, make in India”, is very close in spirit and in intent to the phrase I have used of our country, Australia, that we are ‘Open for Business’.
So there is a lot to do – a very great deal to do. I think there have been times when we have focused on opportunities elsewhere in our region. I’m not saying that there aren’t lots of opportunities elsewhere in our region, but there is an abundance of opportunities here in India. I am determined to make the most of them, I know all of you are determined to make the most of them and I look forward to working very closely with you and with our Indian interlocutors over the next two days. Let’s enjoy our breakfast and enjoy our company.
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