My friend Tony

21/11/2014

The instant rapport that Prime Minister Narendra Modi struck with his Australian counterpart Tony Abbott — Mr Modi called him “my friend Tony” and Mr Abbot referred to the Indian Prime Minister as being “like my brother” — during his recently-concluded multi-city visit to Australia, should in the months ahead lead to larger partnerships than what is indicated in the five agreements the two countries signed during the occasion.
Two among the most-awaited ones are the execution of a pact for Australia to supply uranium for India's civil nuclear projects and free trade facilitation between the two countries. Mr Abbott has already said that the free trade deal will become operational the coming year. It is necessary for this to get off the ground at the earliest because the bilateral trade between the two is at $15 billion, which is far, far less than the Australia-China trade at $150 billion.
While the comparison may not be fully appropriate because China's trade engagement with Australia had begun in right earnest much earlier, and also because of the nature of goods and services that the two nations trade in. Yet, the figures do indicate the potential that exists for India to ramp up its economic and business engagements with Australia. It is keeping this mind that Mr Modi met a high-level delegation of business leaders of that country and invited them to invest in India in general and the Make in India campaign in particular. It must be remembered that China and Australia have signed a free trade agreement, which is why a similar deal between India and Australia will provide a quantum boost to trade ties between the two.
While India depends on Australia for a number of products, primary among them being coal, copper ore and petroleum, India offers huge investment (and return on them) opportunities to Australia in the infrastructure, agricultural and food processing sectors, which are all poised for a big leap given the Modi Government's sustained emphasis on them. Equally importantly, the bonhomie between Mr Modi and Mr Abbott, so evident that the Indian Prime Minister even took the liberty of cracking a joke during his address to the Australian Parliament about “shirt-fronting” — a typically Australian term, meaning, to take opponents head-on. What is as critical as the trade relations, though, is the revival of the strategic partnership that has been in cold storage for long. Both the countries are expected to cooperate in the Indian Ocean region, what Canberra refers to as the Indo-Pacific. This can be a game-changer not just for the two nations but for the region as well, since conflicts involving other countries are presently on there. Before the all-weather critics of the Indian Prime Minister carp that the visit was just a series of photo-ops, they must realise that Mr Modi has become the first Prime Minister to visit Australia in 28 long years.The engagement between the two countries could have been more robust but for this gap. However, that is now past, and the NDA Government is trying to make up for lost time. We have seen a new drive not just in connection with Australia but also neighbouring countries such as Japan, Nepal, Bhutan and Sri Lanka, to name a few. The Prime Minister's foreign policy push has, therefore, an overarching purpose.

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