CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY EMBARGOED UNTIL DELIVERY
SPEECH BY THE PRIME MINISTER
STATE BANQUET
NEW DELHI 9 FEBRUARY 1989
. sTohcei ewtoy rld sees in India a land of rich and ancient culture; a
of profound challenge and almost limitless
opportunity; a nation whose hard won achievement of
independence set an inspiring landmark in the new world order
that emerged after the Second World War; a democracy where
individual liberty and justice are the cherished-attributes
of daily life for hundreds of millions of people.
For Australians, India has been a comrade in times of war and
a friend in peace; a great rival in sport, not least in
cricket; a clear and influential voice in the United Nations,
the Commonwealth, and the Non-Aligned Movement.
In our own colonial times, in 1854, in the famous act of
defiance by the gold miners at the Eureka Stockade, there
were, standing at the forefront of the struggle side by side
with men from around the world, two gold miners from Bengal.
And in more recent times, Australians and Indians have shown
their preparedness to fight and to die in defence of freedom.
* Last week, in Thailand, I laid a wreath at the Kanchanaburi
War Cemetery, in honour. of the Commonwealth prisoners of war
who died building the Burma railroad Australians, Indians
and others who died in appalling conditions of exhaustion and
hardship but who have left to us a powerful reminder of their
resilience and indomitable humanity.
Today, some 80,000 Indians are welcome and valued members of
our multicultural society, making tremendous contributions to
our academic, cultural, professional and, I might add, our
culinary life.
For all these reasons you will understand the depth of my
sincerity when I say it is an honour and a pleasure to return
to India, for this my first bilateral visit, and to bring you
the friendly greetings of the Australian people.
Mr Prime Minister,
Since you assumed the Prime Ministership after the tragic
death of your mother, we have worked together closely.
It was through the Commonwealth in Nassau, London and
Vancouver that I came to know you and to appreciate your
statesmanship, vision and the fresh and open-minded approach
you bring to world affairs.
You also did us the honour of visiting Australia in October
1986. On all these occasions we have advanced a range of
issues of importance to us both and we have, at the same
time, become personal friends.
I look forward to working with you again when we next meet at
the Kuala Lumpur CHOGM in October.
To you, Prime Minister, I bring the warmest personal
greetings. I regard it as a great honour that tomorrow, when
I deliver the Third Indira Gandhi Memorial Lecture, I will be
able to pay tribute to the contribution you and your family
have made to modern India and the world over three
generations.
Mr Prime Minister, the foundations of the Indian-Australian
relationship would be the envy of many. We share a language,
institutions and many common values.
At the same time, I think it is fair to say that the
relationship, and its economic aspect in particular, has not
been developed at the pace or with the imagination and
creativity that it merits.
Your visit to Australia injected into it new vigor and
vitality. On this visit I am determined to build on those
achievements by further expanding the links between us.
Tomorrow I will open the third meeting of the Indo-Australian
Joint Business Council, which was established following
agreement between us in 1986.
This third meeting takes place against an encouraging
expansion of two-way trade: an 18 per cent increase in
1987/ 88 to a total value of well over A$ 700 million.
Tomorrow we will also witness the signing of Memoranda of
Understanding between our respective agencies responsible for
telecommunications, meteorology and railways.
But these developments only start what I believe will be a
much longer story of substantial growth in the economic
dimensions of Indian-Australian co-operation.
Australia will be expanding significantly its bilateral
development program in India.
I am particularly pleased to say that the discussions between
our two governments in regard to the Piparwar coal project
are now at an advanced stage and are expected to be brought
to a successful conclusion in the near future.
This will be a very substantial achievement. It will not
only be the largest project of its kind between Australia and
India, it will also be a real stimulus to the relationship as
a whole a great demonstration of what we can do together.
Mr Prime Minister, there would be little point in doing the
work required to build these links, unless we concurrently
work for a peaceful and stable international environment
within which such co-operative links can flourish.
My Government has watched closely your personal efforts and
initiatives in response to the changes taking place globally
and in the Asia-Pacific region particularly your recent
successful visit to China. For Australia's part we welcome
this development; more harmonious relations between India and
China will go a long way to promoting stability in the
region. In the immediate region we applaud the way in which you and
Prime Minister Bhutto have improved the atmosphere of the
relationship between your two countries, including at the
recent SAARC meeting.
The decisive way in which India recently supported the
democratic Government of the Maldives was welcomed throughout
the Commonwealth.
Mr Prime Minister, when we met in Canberra in 1986 we did so
against a background of international distrust. The global
context of our conversations this time round is considerably
brighter. We have both seen, at first hand, General-Secretary
Gorbachev's determination to reform Soviet society and the
Soviet economy, and to find new directions in his country's
foreign policy, often in quite dramatic ways, Afghanistan
being the most immediate example. I
Mr Gorbachev has already made a more substantive contribution
to the lessening of international tension and the building of
a constructive relationship with the United States than any
previous Soviet leader.
At the same time I am confident that under George Bush the
United States will continue to play an active, responsible
and constructive role in shaping the international
environment. Mr Prime Minister, there is now a very real opportunity for
us to capitalise on these developments and to encourage the
process even further. We must set our sights high.
This is especially true in the field of disarmament.
Substantial progress has already been made. Nevertheless,
arms control and disarmament remain the greatest challenge
facing all of us as we seek to transform decisively an
international environment which has encouraged a massive and
wasteful diversion of scarce resources towards the creation
of the instruments of war.
Australia and India have different views on some elements of
the disarmament debate, notably over the Nuclear
Non-Proliferation Treaty. India's views are well known. For
our part, we regard the NPT as a vitally important instrument
of arms control.
But our overall objective must be and I believe is the
same: neither of us can accept a world held ransom by the
threat of nuclear holocaust.
In South Asia, Australia has watched with concern the threat
of nuclear proliferation. We therefore welcome the recent
positive step taken by you and Prime Minister Bhutto in
signing an agreement prohibiting attacks on each other's
nuclear installations. We earnestly hope this will lead to
further steps which can help to assure that nuclear programs
pursued in the region are directed solely towards peaceful
non-explosive uses.
We are both committed to the concept of creating an Indian
Ocean Zone of Peace as an integral element of a co-operative
and interdependent region.
Just as a concerted effort is required in the area of arms
control, so too we must work towards the establishment of a
freer and fairer trading environment. We must ensure that
the disappointment of the Montreal mid-term review of the
Uruguay Round of GATT negotiations is not repeated in Geneva
in two months time.
Australia stands ready to work more closely with India to
achieve a world where peace and security, democracy and
economic well-being are realities, not just distant
aspirations. These are, of course, highly ambitious goals. But neither
Australia nor India has ever been afraid of setting our
sights high, whether in the pursuit of better lives for our
peoples, or in the shaping of the world political and
economic environment. Neither of us has ever seen this as a
task to be left exclusively to the superpowers or to the
major world economies. We both demand a right to have our
voice heard.
SOur prospects of success in these great endeavours, Mr Prime
Minister, are significantly enhanced by the fact that we are
working towards these goals together.
In particular we have a great task ahead of us in keeping
pressure on the South African regime to dismantle its ugly
and abhorrent system of apartheid, I pay tribute to the
leading role that you have played, Mr Prime Minister, in the
Commonwealth and in other forums, in articulating the
arguments and increasing the pressure for action in this
vital field.
We both welcome, I am sure, the recent consensus decision by
the International Cricket Council to maintain bans on South
Africa and thus to ensure the continuation of Test cricket
into the future.
Prime Minister and Mrs Gandhi, Hazel and I would like to
Shank you again for your wonderful hospitality. As in the
past, we have enjoyed your company. We both look forward to
seeing more of the magnificent Indian cultural heritage on
Saturday, when we travel to the legendary city of Agra.
Mr Prime Minister,
India is the last of four countries I have visited in the
past fortnight. In Korea, Thailand, Pakistan and now in
India I have had the privilege of informing myself through
discussions with the leaders about developments in the
rapidly changing and vitally important Asia-Pacific and South
Asia regions.
In this way Australia seeks to improve its knowledge of and
involvement in the challenges and opportunities of these
countries. I trust too that visits such as this demonstrate
again the commitment of Australia to these regions, our
determination to become involved in a positive way in them,
our openness to them and our identification with them.
I I
In all of the countries I have visited, the flame of
democracy is burning bright. It is fitting, and enormously
uplifting, to conclude my visit in this great nation that is
proudly, deeply, unalterably democratic.
I close on this point: as we enter the 1990s, with hope and
confidence and prudence, Australia and India will draw
strength and wisdom from the certain knowledge that it is
only democracy that will fully equip us to meet the
challenges that await us.
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