E&OE
23 June 2008
Joint Press Conference with Indian Minister for External Affairs
STEPHEN SMITH: Thanks very much.
Can I formally welcome my counterpart, Minister Mukherjee, to Australia, and can I formally thank him for attending Australia and taking part in the formal Australia-India Foreign Ministers' Framework Dialogue.
This is the fifth such dialogue but it's the first dialogue that we've had since 2005. And so we're very pleased that we've been able to have this dialogue in Canberra today.
This is Minister Mukherjee's first visit to Australia as Foreign Minister, but it's the sixth visit of an Indian minister to Australia this year. And we very much appreciate the high level visits that we've seen to Australia. Australia, of course, will reciprocate. Minister Mukherjee and I have agreed that I will visit India in the second half of this year, most likely in September of this year.
Can I say that we've had very productive and fruitful conversations this morning, which reflected firstly the wide-ranging nature of the Australia-India bilateral relationship, dealing with economic matters, dealing with our educational exchanges, dealing with our strategic and security and counterterrorism interests and these have been very productive and very useful.
We've dealt with the array of regional issues that Australia and India have in common and also dealt with some global or international issues and we'll continue our discussion over dinner tonight.
You've received the communiqué which outlines an array of concrete matters that we've agreed so far as the bilateral relationship is concerned.
Can I say overall, to summarise the spirit of our dialogue this morning, when I first became Foreign Minister at the first formal speech I gave, I said that I wanted Australia to take its relationship with India to a new level, that I regarded that as very important, that Australia had to look to the west to appreciate the rise of India.
Australia wants to take our relationship with India to the front rank of our partnerships that we have, and I regard that as being very, very important to Australia's future in the course of this century.
There's a lot that Australia and India have in common and share, a range of values and virtues. We are both parliamentary democracies, India of course the largest of the parliamentary democracies. We both respect the rule of law and respect human rights. We have very significant economic exchanges, and these have grown quite substantially in the very recent period. A lot of that has been in the minerals resources area, but our engagement in educational, scientific, biotechnological areas have grown significantly in the recent period.
So there is a lot of economic potential so far as Australia's relationship with India is concerned.
Education: a very important area. We now have over 60,000 Indian students. We are a very popular destination for Indian students, and this is a significant addition to our people-to-people contact.
On the security and strategic front, we've just signed a couple of treaties; an extradition treaty and a mutual assistance treaty. These are a couple of practical illustrations of how we want our strategic, security, defence and counterterrorism arrangements to be enhanced, and we had a very good conversation about all of these matters.
And you'll see from the communiqué that one particular example of further progress, practical progress in these areas is our Chief of Defence Forces agreeing to meet on an annual basis.
There'll be a range of issues that you'll no doubt want to raise with Minister Mukherjee and I. I'll hand over to Minister Mukherjee for his opening remarks and then we're happy to respond to your questions.
But Minister, can I again, on behalf of Australia, thank you very warmly indeed for your visit to Australia.
Minister Mukherjee has come to Australia for a stand-alone visit to Australia at a very busy period for him in Indian politics. We appreciate that very much, and I am very much looking forward to my return visit to India in the second half of this year.
PRANAB MUKHERJEE: Thank you, Mr Minister.
I am indeed grateful to you and to the Government of Australia, particularly the Foreign Affairs Department, for the warm hospitality extended to me and to my colleagues.
This is my first visit to Australia as Foreign Minister, and also to participate in the Fifth Dialogue, the format which we are having since 2005. This is the first one.
And I am more happy that this discussion is taking place at the premises which is named after late Richard G Casey, who was the former Governor-General of Australia. He was the Foreign Minister of Australia. But I can share with you that he was the Governor of Bengal in Calcutta in 1943, and he is the second last Governor of India appointed by the British Government. And he was quite popular.
India-Australia relations go farther back, not merely decades but centuries. What we have done today is to look ahead in the new century, one that is full of emerging opportunities, in the hope of fulfilling some of them for our future generations.
We have agreed on a number of new initiatives to further extend and expand our relationship. We look forward to extending our cooperation in areas such as energy, information and technology, science and technology, bio-technology, and other industries.
We also discussed extending our public dialogue and academic exchanges and interaction, as the Minister has said, a large number of Indian students are studying in Australia. In fact, this is the third largest destination of Indian students next to USA and UK, and I am told that recently Australia has surpassed the UK in number of Indian students.
Both India and Australia are countries that encourage enterprises across the board in many circles as we look ahead and plan to ensure the right framework for our cooperation, the need for managing the resources of all types, human and natural, springs into prominence.
Back in the 18th century, trade in coal was conducted between Australia and India, and that [indistinct] from Calcutta, capital of Bengal.
Even today, as I speak, the resources sector is an important component of our economic engagement. Today we also discussed the possibility of developing a joint resource strategy and expanding our mutually beneficial cooperation in the energy and mining sector. As with any other growing relationship, trade is one of the major driving factors. We hope to complete the feasibility study of a free trade agreement by the end of this year.
When you talk of growth, there is an inescapable need for ensuring the right environment and stability, and security to ensure growth. Both sides have agreed to enhance the level of our security dialogue. We have agreed to further expand our cooperation in the defence sector by initiating annual dialogue at the level of Chief of Defence Forces.
One of the important factors undermining this is terrorism, and these have to be tackled effectively. The two treaties that we have just signed would help our efforts in combating terrorism and international crime by providing them with an institutional and legal foundation. We have noted with interest Australia's proposals for an Asia Pacific community, and on the establishment of an international commission on nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament.
India's impeccable record on nuclear non-proliferation hardly needs emphasis. We look forward to hearing from the Australian side more details on these proposals. Ultimately all that we do to date is an attempt to provide the canvas for the people of the two countries to see.
We are happy at the growing numbers of the Indian students, and the large Indian community in Australia. They have an important role in enhancing our interaction and mutual awareness. In this regard, we appreciate the efforts made by the Australian Government, not only in making such opportunities available, but for also encouraging an [indistinct] methods for bilateral interactions at the popular and professional levels.
I told Foreign Minister Smith out there this morning, that my visit here unfortunately was very short, almost like a Twenty20 encounter, in cricketing terms. Cricket in fact is an essential element underpinning our relations, and I want to place on record the great appreciation of the Indian supporters of the game, for the performance of Australian cricketers during the just-concluded Indian Premier League. Perhaps it was only fitting that an Australian cricketer, Shane Warne, made that winning team.
I have invited Foreign Minister, Stephen Smith, to visit India, and he has graciously accepted my invitation, and I am hoping to receive him in India in September. I am waiting to welcome him in Delhi. With any luck, he'll be able to take in some cricket as well during his visit.
Thank you, ladies and gentlemen.
SMITH: Well Minister, thanks very much for that. Before taking your questions, I think Mr Todd's going to try and supervise, or organise.
The Minister referred to cricket and Twenty20, and in the course of our conversation he said his visit was like a Twenty20 visit, and I said Australia's relationship with India this century had to be like a test match, we had to be applying ourselves diligently to that relationship on an ongoing basis.
I think if I reflect on the past, I think, as I said late last week, I think Australia has frankly under-appreciated its relationship with India for at least the last quarter of a century, and occasionally we've gone in fits and starts, like a Twenty20 match.
Now we need to make sure we apply ourselves to the Indian relationship, as if it were a test match, day in, day out, to take our relationship with India to a new level, and to put our relationship with India amongst the first order of our international partnerships.
We're happy to respond to your questions.
QUESTION: Could I ask Minister Mukherjee - my name's Rob Taylor, from the Reuters Newsagency.
I just wanted to ask, Australia has said that it is opposed to India joining the trilateral security talks with Japan, Australia and the United States, it's something that India has expressed an interest in. Are you disappointed by that? Do you think that that decision was perhaps overly influenced by perhaps Chinese, or concerns about Chinese interests? And also you have in speeches over the last couple of days, talked about uranium as an issue, it's an area of disagreement between the two of you, but it's a very big area of disagreement as well, and your nuclear envoy was recently out here. How much of a thorn in relations is that issue?
MUKHERJEE: First of all, in respect of the dialogue between India, Japan, Australia and the USA. First it was initiated by Japan and it did not proceed further, except some discussions. And it is not correct to come to the conclusion that because of the Chinese concern we are not interested in their dialogue. There are various architecture [indistinct] architectures, we are in this stream, and we are participating in it, and we would like to examine in greater details how it proceeds.
In respect of our bilateral relations with China, I can assure you despite the differences in respect of boundaries, we are engaged constructively, and that is one of the cardinal principles of India's foreign policy. There may be divergencies of views in certain areas, but those divergencies of views need not stand in the way of convergence of mutual interests and expanding contact. It is in respect of China, it is in respect of Pakistan, and it maybe in respect of certain other countries.
So far as our commitment to nuclear non-proliferation is concerned, it is committed, it is second to none. From the 1950s India is committed to non-proliferation. Just in 1988, 20 years ago, a young Prime Minister, perhaps the youngest one we ever had, Mr Rajiv Gandhi, explained his roadmap how to create a nuclear weapon-free world within a timeframe, specific timeframe, on universal, non-discriminatory, verifiable mechanism [indistinct] again, within a specific timeframe, all nuclear weapons will be eliminated, and we are still committed to that.
So far as supply of uranium from Australia to India is concerned, I have come to Australia not with one issue of getting uranium from Australia, because we are aware of the position of the Labor Party in Australia for quite some time.
Australia's commitment to non-proliferation is firm, and we respect that. So far as requirements of uranium is concerned, I think it is too early revert to that as the Honourable Minister, Mr Smith, has very clearly pointed out that I am really busy in India in some domestic politics and that is in respect of implementing the 123 Agreement with USA. And I am deeply engaged. So therefore, it is an exercise to catch a train which has no possibility or when it will arrive at the platform. Nobody knows. It is just like that.
Therefore, let the process be completed. When we will require uranium, naturally if the entire process is completed, the nuclear trade with India is permissible as per the international arrangement, then and then only the question will come.
Thank you.
SMITH: If I could just add to that. So far as the so-called quadrilateral talks were concerned, these were one-off talks at officer level between Australia, US, India and Japan. And the Australian Government has adopted a position which was in a sense reflected by the comments made by Alexander Downer and Brendan Nelson when he was Defence Minister, that they didn't expect that this conversation would occur again. So that's on the quadrilaterals.
Secondly, just in terms of the general relationship that Australia has with the United States, with Japan, with China and with India, it's very important that Australia has a good bilateral relationship with each of these nations.
It's also very important that each of these nations themselves have good and constructive bilateral relations. And one of the things that I commented upon in our meeting was Australia regards it as very important that India has a good, positive, constructive relationship with China, with Japan, with the United States.
All of these things can be win-win. It's not a zero-sum game. Just because Australia has a very good relationship with India that we want to take to a new or a different level, doesn't mean that that is at the expense or has to be at the expense of any other nation state. And that's very much our attitude.
But so far as we're concerned, good and constructive relations with those four major powers that I've referred to is not a zero-sum game, it's win-win.
So far as nuclear issues are concerned, the Minister has come from discussions in domestic Indian politics about the so-called 123 Agreement. And I made it clear to the Minister today, as I have publicly in the past and also privately to Indian officials, that if and when the 123 Agreement gets to either the IAEA or the Nuclear Suppliers Group, the NSG, Australia will then give consideration to what its attitude to that agreement is. And we will bear in mind the view and the arguments and the issue - and the importance of the issue to India when we come to that consideration.
And the same occurs in relation to the United States. I've made that same point to the United States administration, that if and when the 123 Agreement comes before either the Nuclear Suppliers Group or the IAEA, we will give consideration to it at that point in time.
That's of course a separate issue from the issue of Australian export of uranium. And as Minister Mukherjee said, the Australian Labor Party has a longstanding position which is well known, that we don't export uranium to a country which is not a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
More generally on disarmament issues, the Minister commented upon just a moment ago and in our meeting at the similarity of the positions of Australia and India when it comes to nuclear disarmament.
Both nation states have got, in our view, good track records, and a lot of the sentiments expressed by our Prime Minister recently when he launched the Nuclear Disarmament and Non-Proliferation Commission were, as the Minister said, very similar to the sentiment expressed by the Indian Prime Minister 20 years ago when a comparable proposal was made or raised by India internationally.
Thank you.
CONVENOR: One question from our Indian colleague in the front row.
QUESTION: My name is [indistinct] Raj from the Indian National [indistinct]. India-Australia relations have been progressing well. India has strategic partnership with several countries.
My question to Mr Smith and Mr Mukherjee: is there any strategic partnership developing between India and Australia in the near future? Also, is there any proposal for nuclear power research?
MUKHERJEE: Yes, we are expanding our cooperation, and when I talked of endless cooperation on defence and security, naturally it is the part of this strategic cooperation.
And also we are concerned, and as we have expressed in our meeting about the growing threat of terrorism and apprehensions at their access to weapons of mass destruction, the close nexus between drug trafficking, arms smuggling and financing of the terrorist activities, all closely linked, are matter of concerns, and we would like to cooperate with each other bilaterally and also regionally and multilaterally.
Thank you.
CONVENOR: We've got time for one more question.
SMITH: Yes, sure. Just very quickly.
The way I've expressed it, Australia wants to take its relationship with India to a new level, to the next level. We want to take our relationship with India to the front rank of international partnerships that we have.
To do that, we have to embrace all of the attributes of our relationship, which we do. Economic: our economic trade and investment links have been growing quite exponentially in recent times.
Our security strategic defence counter-terrorism cooperation, we think we can make much more intense.
Our people-to-people contact through students and generally, of course, has been growing as well.
So when you go through economic, defence, counter-terrorism, education, all of these things lead to taking our relationship to the next level. And we would hope that over a relatively short period of time, what we now see as the first Foreign Ministers' Dialogue since 2005 becomes a much more regular or annual event, and that we move to having much more of a strategic and security and defence and counter-terrorism conversation as part of that framework or dialogue.
There was one more, Andrew?
QUESTION: Minister Mukherjee, Tim Lester from the Nine Network Australia.
You said you noted the commission announced by Mr Rudd on non-proliferation and disarmament. Could you tell us whether you noted it positively or negatively? And do you believe that the commission might ultimately play a role in changing the NPT such that the international nuclear community embraces India and we get beyond this question of uranium export?
MUKHERJEE: What the basic objective of Prime Minister's views are concerned, I have already explained that there is no two opinions of it that the objective is [indistinct]. And as I further mentioned, and it is a very happy coincidence that exactly on the same date in which Prime Minister Rudd unfolded his scheme at Kyoto, 9th of June, 20 years ago exactly on that day, in the United Nations Convention on Disarmament, the then Prime Minister, Mr Rajiv Gandhi, unfolded his scheme of a nuclear weapon-free world.
Therefore, we shall have to examine and we shall have to look into it that, how it is going to have that desired goal at a level to the international community.
And so far as our commitment to non-proliferation is concerned, it is total. Even after 1998, voluntarily India declared moratorium on further tests in our nuclear doctrine. We declared no first use, no use against any non-nuclear weapon state. Keeping that in view, our articulation on disarmament is not merely on arms control. Unfortunately, the international community for quite some time are now talking of, as if disarmament means merely arms control. We want to go beyond that.
Therefore, the formulations which former Prime Minister of India, Mr Rajiv Gandhi, did and which has [indistinct] in the scheme by the Prime Minister Rudd. I think that is the correct direction that if we want to have totally nuclear weapon-free world, that should be the ultimate objective of the non-proliferation.
Thank you.
SMITH: Okay, thanks very much, everyone. Thank you.
Media Inquiries: Foreign Minister's office (02) 6277 7500