Jaishankar meets Australian PM Albanese on sidelines of business meet

External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar called on Australian Prime Minister Antony Albanese in Sydney on February 18, 2022
| Photo Credit: Twitter/@DrSJaishankar

External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar met Australian Prime Minister Antony Albanese on Saturday on the sidelines of the Raisina @ Sydney Business Breakfast.

Prior to their meeting, Mr. Jaishankar addressed the audience at Raisina @ Sydney Business Breakfast on Saturday and talked about the economy and the COVID-19 issue. He said, “We are targeting 7% growth this year, but we expect it to improve in the next five years. And definitely, we would stay in the 7-9% range at least for a decade and a half.”

“And you can today see the same reflected in the investment climate, both in the flow of FDI, FII as well as in the investments which the government itself is leading the capital outlay in this year’s budget,” he added.

Raisina @ Sydney Bussiness Breakfast was organised by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) and India’s Observer Research Foundation (ORF) at the InterContinental Hotel in Sydney.

Talking about the Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (ECTA) that was signed between India and Australia on April 2, 2022, and came into force on December 29, 2022, Mr. Jaishankar said that the ECTA has a “good impact on trade”. “Encouraging greater investments should be the focus, especially during CEO Forum meets or the Prime Minister and Trade Ministers visit,” he suggested.

Mr. Jaishankar also spoke about migration mobility and said, “We’ve seen a very substantial movement of Indian talent to Australia. We have roughly about a million students staying in here.”

“We would welcome Australian universities to India. For us, it’s not just about Indian students coming to Australia but it’s also about Australia and India working together to produce skilled, competitive talent in India for the entire world,” he added.

While addressing the audience, Mr. Jaishankar also said that India has overcome the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic “quite strongly.” He also said that the impact of COVID has been devastating on the world economy, and added, “Perhaps we in India and Australia feel it much less.”

After Mr. Jaishankar’s keynote address, a panel session will be held that would cover topics like “Next steps in the Australia-India economic partnership: stability, security and sovereignty,” and it will be addressed by keynote speakers: Vivek Lall, Chief Executive, General Atomics Global Corporation; Jodi McKay, National Chair, Australia-India Business Council; Vikram Singh, Vice President, and Country Head – ANZ, Tata Consultancy Services and facilitated by Bec Shrimpton, Director, The Sydney Dialogue, Australian Strategic Policy Institute.