Diplomatist Magazine Diplomatist March 2019 | Page 27

SPECIAL REPORT
with India in the digital delivery of education.
The focus on states refl ects the reality that
India is best seen not as a single economy but as
an aggregation of very diff erent state economies,
each growing at different rates, driven by
diff erent strengths, led in diff erent ways and
increasingly competing for investment, but
likely to progress unevenly.
The report places a high priority on boosting
Australian investment in India. In virtually all
of Australia’s relationships in Asia, investment
lags trade by a wide margin. India holds
out the prospect of being diff erent. It has a
relatively open foreign investment regime. It
has the rule of law. Its institutions are familiar
to Australians, both derived from British
models, and English is widely spoken – a very
signifi cant asset.
Government Response
The Australian Government announced its
formal response to the report on 22 November
2018. Endorsing the report’s overall analysis
and providing in-principle support to its 20
priority recommendations, the Government
committed to focusing its economic diplomacy
eff orts in India on the report’s 10 sectors and
10 states.
High level oversight of the strategy will
be provided by an annual committee chaired
by the Minister for Trade, Investment and
Tourism alongside Ministerial Champions
for the education, agribusiness, resources and
tourism sectors.
The initial implementation plan across
Government will cover the fi rst year and will
be built on over the life of the Strategy, which
has a span upto 2035. Key actions over the fi rst
12 months include: concluding a Memorandum
of Understanding between Austrade and
Invest India to promote bilateral investment
fl ows; establishing an Australia-India Food
Partnership; extending the Australia-India
Strategic Research Fund designed to help
researchers solve shared challenges; engaging
airlines to increase direct flights through
the Australia-India air services agreement;
and expanding the Australia-India Mining
Partnership, to better connect Australian
companies to India’s minerals-rich eastern
states, supported by Australia’s new Consulate-
General in Kolkata.
These are only some of the fi rst steps in a
journey that will help see Australia and India
prosper together. Importantly, the Indian
Government has indicated it is seeking to
carry out a complementary study for India in
Australia.
Diaspora
The Indian diaspora in Australia may over
time prove to be the most signifi cant factor to
our shared prosperity.
India is currently Australia’s largest source
of skilled migrants, its second largest source
of international students and a substantial
proportion of those who come to Australia
under temporary visas to fi ll skilled positions
that Australians cannot. This diaspora will
have a big role to play in the partnership of the
future. They create personal links, in business,
the arts, education, and civil society which can
help anchor the relationship.
The truth is that – at a community level
– neither of us know much about the other.
Images of Australia in India tend to be sketchy,
shaped by cricket, historical connections and
sporadic coverage in the Indian media.
Similarly, in Australia, there is very little
understanding of contemporary India in the
wider community. Australians, for the most
part, have only a partial glimpse of India's
diversity, its sophistication and of the scale
of its prospects. If our partnership is to reach
its full potential we must modernise our
perceptions of each other. It is in our interests
to do away with misconceived notions of what
the other stands for. What we achieve together
in coming decades will have little to do with
a shared imperial past. It will have not much
to do with the English language, although
that will greatly help. And it will have to
be a tighter bond than anything forged on a
cricket fi eld. Rather, it will turn on gaining
a real understanding of each other, of where
we diff er but also what brings us together
including shared interests and the strength of
our diversity. 
* Peter Varghese began
as Chancellor of The
University of Queensland
on 11 July 2016. Prior to
this appointment, Mr
Varghese’s extensive
career in public service
and diplomacy spanned
38 years and included
senior positions in
foreign affairs, trade
policy and intelligence.
Most recently, he served
as Secretary of the
Department of Foreign
Aff airs and Trade (2012-
2016). Previous senior
appointments included
High Commissioner
to India (2009-2012),
High Commissioner to
Malaysia (2000-2002),
Director-General of
the Office of National
Assessments (2004-
2009), and Senior
Advisor (International)
to the Prime Minister
of Australia (2003-
2004). Mr Varghese
was the author of a
comprehensive India
Economic Strategy to
2035 commissioned by
the Australian Prime
Minister and submitted
in July 2018.
Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Diplomatist • Vol 7 • Issue 3 • March 2019, Noida • 27