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The Morrison Government is further strengthening ties with India, one of Australia’s most important partners in the Indo-Pacific region. A series of new initiatives to support education, community, tourism and investment links will add to its growing bilateral relationship, which was elevated to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in 2020.
Following meetings between the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for Women, Senator the Hon Marise Payne, and India’s Minister of External Affairs Dr S. Jaishankar in Melbourne, the Government has launched three Maitri (friendship) initiatives, which will foster Australia-India cooperation, creativity, understanding and exchange.
The $11.2 million Maitri Scholarships Program will attract and support high achieving Indian students to study at Australian universities. It will showcase Australia’s globally renowned academic and research institutions, particularly in science, technology, engineering, mathematics and health.
The $3.5 million Maitri Grants and Fellowships Program will build links between future leaders, supporting mid-career Australian and Indian professionals to collaborate on strategic research and shared priorities.
The $6.1 million Australia-India Maitri Cultural Partnership will boost the role of creative industries in our economic and people-to-people ties. This partnership will also promote artistic talent and cultural exchanges in the two countries’ world class visual and performing arts, literature, film, television and music industries.
Following meetings between the Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment, the Hon Dan Tehan MP, and India’s Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal in New Delhi, the Government has also renewed the Australia-India Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Tourism Cooperation and launched the Australia India Infrastructure Forum.
The renewed MoU positions tourism operators to take advantage of our international border re-opening to all fully vaccinated eligible visa holders, including tourists and business travellers from 21 February. Under the MoU, Australia and India will promote travel between the two markets and advance cooperation on tourism policy, data sharing, training and industry engagement. Pre-pandemic, India was Australia’s fastest-growing source of international visitors. In 2019, almost 400,000 visitors from India visited Australia and spent a combined total of $1.8 billion.
The Australia India Infrastructure Forum will serve as a hub to promote two-way investment in infrastructure. As a side initiative of the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement, currently under negotiation with India, it will also support broader trade and investment objectives. A new $5.8 million Bay of Bengal Connectivity Partnership will expand this work to other countries in the region.
These initiatives reflect the nations’ shared commitment to cooperation and exchange, as set out in the Australia-India Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, agreed in June 2020.
With Senator the Hon Marise Payne media page.
Nina Alvarez is a writer and content producer. Her interests include writing, particularly about different forms of digital communication and the many ways it can impact the flow of information through varying demographics.
