Speech
Australia and India: A Convergence of Interests
15 October 2009, Asia Society, Mumbai
Thank you for your kind introduction.
I am honoured to speak to you tonight as I conclude my second visit to India as Australia's Minister for Foreign Affairs.
The Asia Society provides an important forum for strengthening relations throughout Asia, and of course with the United States.
Since my arrival in India on Monday I have held successful and productive meetings with senior Indian Ministers, including Finance Minister Mukherjee, Home Affairs Minister Chidambaram and my counterpart, External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna.
Minister Krishna and I conducted the sixth Australia-India Foreign Ministers' Framework Dialogue, and agreed both Governments should continue to advance bilateral, regional and international cooperation between our two countries.
As I was on my last visit here, I have again been struck by how many important interests Australia and India have in common, from trade and investment to regional security to tackling climate change.
Our relationship is broad and it continues to grow.
I reiterate tonight that Australia will continue to work hard to take India to the front-line of our international partnerships, to the front rank of our bilateral relationships.
I said in my first speech as Minister for Foreign Affairs for Australia, in December 2007, that Australia needed to do much more with its relationship with India.
Tonight I will leave India more convinced than ever that Australia and India have a strong convergence of interests.
We are natural partners.
And we should become strategic partners.
Nearly one year ago this grand hotel and this great city, we saw a terrible terrorist attack.
From across the Indian Ocean, Australians watched in horror as Mumbai residents and international visitors were caught up in unimaginable evil.
As we know, the terrorists killed more than 160 innocent and defenceless people during these attacks.
Among these too many victims, two innocent Australians, Douglas Markell and Brett Taylor were tragically killed.
Australia lost two fine citizens. One year on their families - in common with the families of the others killed, including staff members of this hotel - are trying to rebuild their lives.
Tonight I pay tribute to Douglas Markell and Brett Taylor, and all the victims of the attacks.
Our sympathies and thoughts remain with their families and their loved ones.
I also want to pay tribute to all those who risked their lives to save others, and to the resilience of this city and the people of Mumbai.
Convergence of interests
India is once again assuming the mantle of global influence reflecting its economic size and its economic strength, its strategic weight, and its rich history.
Australia recognises that global economic, strategic and political influence is shifting to the Asia-Pacific.
It is clear that India is a major part of this transformation and that it will help to shape the global structures which will determine the future of our world.
India's rise is not only based on its population or its economic strength.
It also reflects its significant status as the world's largest democracy, and its history as a tolerant, diverse and multi-faith society committed to pluralism and respect for the rule of law.
Prime Minister Singh encapsulated India's potential elegantly, when he said:
"I am convinced that the 21st century will be an Indian Century. The world will once again look at us with regard and respect, not just for the economic progress we make but for the democratic values we cherish and uphold and the principles of pluralism and inclusiveness we have come to represent which is India's heritage".1
Australia shares these values and these virtues.
We also share India's wish to play a constructive role in world affairs.
These values and these aspirations lie at the heart of the new relationship between our two nations.
Looking East, Looking West
The ‘Look East' policy launched by former Prime Minister Rao in the early 1990s has paved the way for India's expanding diplomatic agenda in East Asia.
It has seen India ever more involved in a region where Australia has been closely engaged for decades.
India is stepping up economic engagement with East Asia, signing free trade agreements with South Korea and ASEAN in recent months.
Its Free Trade Agreement negotiations with Japan are advanced.
Australia, for its part, has turned its attention west.
We recognised that, for many decades, Australian Governments underappreciated India, its potential and its importance for the future not just of our region, but of the world.
We have set out to change this.
My current visit to India is the ninth by an Australian Minister since the beginning of 2008.
In the same period, ten Indian Ministers have made visits to Australia.
Australia and India share a common strong interest in ensuring an effective global response to the global economic crisis.
We are both members of the G20 and recognise that this grouping - which emerged at Pittsburgh as the premier forum for international economic cooperation - has been essential to global economic recovery.
The challenge for G20 members like India and Australia, and the world community now is to build a foundation for sustainable, balanced and broadly based long-term growth.
Australia looks forward to working with India in the G20 to reshape international financial institutions to better reflect the modern world, and not reflect the 1940s and 1950s.
As founding members, Australia and India have demonstrated a long-standing commitment to the United Nations.
We share a firm commitment to finding global solutions to the challenges no country can face on its own.
We want the United Nations to reflect these realities and we strongly support a permanent seat for India on a reformed Security Council, which likewise should reflect the modern world and not the 1940s and 1950s.
Australia supports India's bid for a non-permanent seat on the Security Council for the 2012-2013 term.
Australia is seeking a non-permanent seat on the Security Council for the subsequent term, the 2013-14 term, for the first time in almost 30 years.
Australia and India are both members of the ASEAN Regional Forum and the East Asia Summit.
The countries of the East Asia Summit represent nearly half the world's population, and account for nearly a quarter of global GDP.
The mandate of the EAS is broad enough to promote cooperation across an array of different sectors including finance, climate change, education, energy security, and regional security.
India is not, so far, a member of APEC, but it is Australia's strong view that India should be made a member when APEC's membership moratorium ends in 2010.
APEC's agenda of regional economic integration is more important than ever in this time of global economic uncertainty.
It is clear that by connecting our economies more closely, we can help strengthen each other against external shocks.
Australia also values its participation in the key South Asian regional body, the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), to which with India's support we have been granted observer status. 2
Next year I will represent Australia for the first time at the SAARC Summit in Bhutan.
All of these regional organisations play an important role in our region.
However, both the Australian and Indian Governments agree that there is scope for the development of our regional architecture.
The Indian Government for example, has noted the need for an open and inclusive architecture, which is flexible enough to accommodate the great diversity which exists in Asia.3.
This basic belief is also at the heart of Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's idea for an Asia-Pacific community.
We believe it is crucial to have a regional conversation about how Asia Pacific regional architecture might evolve to meet future strategic, security, economic and political challenges and opportunities.
The Asia Pacific community initiative encourages debate about where we want Asia to be in 2020.
We have an opportunity to create something that would for the first time:
- incorporate all major players in the Asia-Pacific;
- engage in the full spectrum of dialogue, cooperation and action on strategic, security, economic and political matters; and
- encourage the development of a genuine and comprehensive sense of community, whose primary operating principle is cooperation.
As Prime Minister Rudd has said, a clear conclusion from Australia's consultations in the region, including in India, is that there is interest in the region for this discussion.
We now want to explore the possibilities without any fixed or final views on a destination.
Australia will convene a conference in Sydney in December this year, bringing together key academics, opinion-makers and government officials from throughout the region, to discuss the future of our regional architecture for the 21st century.
We welcome very much India's contribution to this important conversation.
As I have underscored tonight, Australia and India share profound interests and profound values, including promoting a stable, prosperous region.
We are now working closely in the fields of defence cooperation, counter terrorism and non-proliferation.
I note, for example, that Australia's Chief of Army recently visited here and the Defence Force Chief has regular meetings with his Indian counterpart.
We welcome these growing strategic links and recognise importantly the potential to do more together.
Energy Security
One constant in our rapidly changing world is competition for energy and energy resources.
Energy is critical to continued economic expansion in our region.
India is the world's fifth largest energy consumer, and its energy consumption is rising at one of the fastest rates in the world.
India's long-term economic growth requires a secure and sustainable supply of energy.
But significant challenges lie ahead: delivering power to India's rapidly growing industries and its rural communities; building new energy infrastructure; and securing reliable long-term energy supplies.
Australia is a reliable and cost competitive supplier of energy commodities.
Australia and India are developing a substantial relationship in the minerals and petroleum resources industries and the energy sector.
Our respective resources and energy agencies have concluded Action Plans in the areas of coal, mines, new and renewable energy, petroleum and natural gas and power.
In an era of climate change, clean coal technology and renewables are also of great potential collaboration.
These plans - and their three year work programs - underpin our bilateral engagement and technical collaboration on minerals and energy, including trade and investment facilitation.
Good progress has been made. But again, there is the potential to do more together.
I cannot talk about energy security in India without mentioning uranium. The Australian and Indian Governments have similar views on nuclear disarmament and nonproliferation.
We also understand and respect each other's position on the sale of uranium and the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty.
The strength of our relationship is reflected in the capacity of both Governments to work beyond this different policy approach.
Trade links
Australia's trade links with India have grown faster than any of our other major partners over the past five years, and India is now Australia's fifth largest export market for goods and services, and is rapidly moving to become our third largest export market.
Over that five–year period, Australian goods and services exports to India have risen at an annual average of more than 30 per cent.
Two-way trade in goods and services totalled nearly A$19 billion in 2008.4.
Forty per cent of that two-way goods trade was with my own home state of Western Australia.
While the expansion of Australian exports has been built on the foundation of mineral and petroleum resources and energy, importantly trade in services is also growing rapidly.
India is now the sixth largest market for Australia's services.
Services like information and communications technology, education, tourism, finance, mining, construction and software development are becoming much more prominent.
India is Australia's second fastest-growing tourism market and the number of Indian visitors is projected to grow at an average annual rate of nearly 20 per cent over the next decade.
Indian companies are also investing in Australia, building on our skills in information technology, agribusiness, mining, manufacturing and services.
It is clear that mineral resources and energy will continue to dominate that trade exchange.
India is Australia's third largest coal customer, our largest gold customer, as well as our third largest copper customer.
Indian resource companies are making significant investments in the Australian minerals and petroleum resources sector.
In August, India's Petronet LNG signed a $20 billion with Exxon-Mobil from the new Gorgon project in Western Australia.
Under the agreement, 1.5 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas will be shipped to India each year for 20 years.
This was the first long-term gas contract between our two nations.
We hope to expand bilateral free trade further. The joint feasibility study on a prospective Free Trade Agreement between Australia and India is close to completion, and we look toward negotiations for a free trade agreement between Australia and India.
Of course, as India continues to modernise and develop, its carbon emissions will grow.
Australia welcomes India's commitment to double the budget for its afforestation campaign to $US1.3 billion.
We also welcome India's progress on energy efficiency, with its aggressive reduction of the energy intensity of its GDP and its comprehensive research agenda on climate change.
This month India will host a conference on "Climate Change: Technology Development and Transfer," a key contribution in the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change process.
Australia and India, of course, both face climate change challenges.
We share a belief that the negative consequences of global warming will only be avoided if demonstrated emission cuts can be made while maintaining strong economic growth, raising living standards and alleviating poverty for all the peoples of the world.
The question is: how can we shift to low carbon development which meets our future energy needs and sets us on a path to avoid dangerous climate change?
It is clear that there are also significant benefits to be gained by cooperation on renewable and low emissions technologies.
Both of our countries have announced targets for renewable energy generation, and we are seeking investment to help us meet them.
For example, Indian wind turbine manufacturer Suzlon Energy delivered 200 megawatts of wind turbine capacity to Australia in 2007.
For both India and Australia, coal continues to be important to our economic development.
India is a foundation member of the Australian-led Global Carbon Capture and Storage Institute.
A member of one of India's most prestigious think-tanks, The Energy Research Institute, has joined the Institute's Advisory Board.
The Australian Government is contributing up to $100 million a year to the Global Carbon Capture and Storage Initiative, which is dedicated to speeding up the development of carbon capture and storage technology, and reducing the amount of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere.
The Initiative is gathering world wide support. Last week in Sweden, I welcomed the European Commission as a foundation membership of the Initiative.
Australia and India also continue to work closely together in the Asia Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate.
The Asia Pacific Partnership brings together seven leading developed and developing nations, Australia, Canada, China, India, Japan, the Republic of Korea and the United States, in collaboration to address climate change, energy security and air pollution in a way that encourages economic development and reduces poverty.
APP countries represent about half the world's emissions, energy use, gross domestic product and population.
People to People Links
This convergence of interests between Australia and India is not only about institutions and economics.
Our relationship is also about people-to-people links. They are the glue that binds our countries together.
Today 250,000 people of Indian heritage are making an invaluable contribution to Australia's economic and social prosperity.
About a fifth of them were born in Australia and many are descended from our nation's earliest settlers.
They are a great part of the story of the Australian nation.
Today we welcome a growing number of migrants and visitors from India.
Over 115,000 Indian citizens visited Australia last year - and we want to see more.
It is clear that, more than any other factor, India's high-growth will be underpinned by its extraordinary wealth in human resources.
Australia is proud to have played a key role in meeting the education needs of Indian students, from elementary school through to university.
Educational institutions in our two countries are forming powerful new linkages at many different levels, building a broad Indo-Australian knowledge partnership.
The Queensland University of Technology and the Indira Gandhi National Open University in New Delhi recently forged a new arrangement to deliver a diploma of primary education on-line.
At the other end of the spectrum, here in Mumbai Monash University has formed a new research partnership with IIT- Bombay which will bring together leading scientists from our two countries to work on projects in fields such as nanotechnology, biotechnology and clean energy.
India is Australia's second largest source of overseas students and Australia is now the second most popular overseas destination after the United States for Indian students.
These students contribute to our multicultural society while they gain skills and knowledge to take home.
This makes student exchange of mutual benefit to both our societies.
As Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard said during her visit to India last month, we too are angry at the attacks on Indian students, young men and women whom we have welcomed into the Australian community.
These attacks are totally unacceptable and we continue to condemn them.
They will not be tolerated.
They are being dealt with by the Australian criminal law, investigative and justice system.
Equally, racism has no place in Australian society.
Australia is a tolerant, multicultural peaceful and welcoming society and we will not allow the actions of a small number to tarnish our reputation for inclusiveness and tolerance.
We are taking extra steps to fight racism. For example, the Victorian Government is empowering judges to take into account the fact that a crime contained a racial element when passing sentence.
The Australian Government is doing everything it can to work with the state authorities and their police forces to bring perpetrators to justice, respond to their crimes and protect students and others in the community.
We will continue to do our utmost to ensure that the children Indian parents have entrusted into the care of the Australian community remain safe and come home with a great education and great memories.
Lastly, I could not possibly visit India without mentioning sport. India of course is a great nation for hockey and cricket.
I know from my personal observations in New Delhi this week, that India is working very hard on preparations for the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi in 2010, not to mention the Hockey World Cup in March.
I inspected some of the Games facilities yesterday in New Delhi.
We in Australia know that it will be a great event and that it will cast an even brighter spotlight on to this nation, with all its talent, vibrancy and diversity.
Conclusion
Ladies and gentlemen, the fact that I cannot, in the timeframe made available for this speech, mention all that we do together is a sign to date a potential for further success.
It is a testament to the increasingly broad-based nature of our relationship.
But we recognise there is hard work ahead.
As I said in India last year: Australia's past approach to India has been like a 20/20 cricket match: short bursts of enthusiasm followed by lengthy periods of inactivity.
Both countries need to approach our partnership as if it were a test match, one requiring diligence, dedication, application and perseverance.
Given the clear political will on both sides seen in the course of this week during my visit, we can and will develop a true strategic partnership for the future.
Thank you.
ENDS
1 Dr Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister of India, addressing the Indian diaspora at the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, Mumbai, January 7, 2005.
2 SAARC is made up of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.