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Australia India Business Summit 2009 The Australia India Business Summit 2009 will be held at the Sofitel Sydney Wentworth on May 20. The summit, organized by the Australia India Business Council, is being held at a time when interest between Australia and India at the business and political levels is high on the agenda and the opportunity it presents make it a unique occasion for both Australian and Indian business to engage with each other. The one-day conference will deal with the following issues:
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INDO-AUSTRALIAN TRADE Looking beyond “C3” TODAY both India and Australia are at the epicenter of the new economic forces shaping the world, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region. Both the countries are striving to take the bilateral relations beyond proverbial Three Cs (Cricket, Curry and the Commonwealth). “The most important feature today is the ‘Fourth C’ that stands for Commerce…I see strong prospects for our bilateral relationship moving beyond the 3Cs; definitely to the 4th C and beyond”1 says Ms Sujatha Singh, Hon’ble High Commissioner of India to Australia. Her high hopes are glaringly reflected in the Indo-Australian trade that has grown from $ 3.23 billion in fiscal 2003-04 to $ 7.92 billion in fiscal 2007-08. India's exports to Australia zoomed from $ 584 million in 2003-04 to $ 1.15 billion in 2007-08. Imports from Australia however increased to $ 7.84 billion in 2007-08 from $ 2.64 billion in 2003-04. From 1797 when Australia imported shiploads of food from Bengal to diffuse the prospect of food shortage feared to be faced by the first settlement in Sydney to 2009 when both the countries are looking forward to a Free Trade Agreement the bilateral trade practice between India and Australia spans over two hundred and twenty two years. Notwithstanding the fact that the close and friendly relationships between these two countries have been occasionally punctuated by many a constraint during this period, today a perceptible and significant shift – both in approach and attitude- is visible in the relationships between these two countries when the Australian Prime Minister Kavin Rudd says “Australia and India are natural partners. The full scope of the partnership is continuing to develop and my government is committed to taking Australia’s relationship with India to a higher level.”3. India is equally keen to encash the emerging opportunities to broaden and strengthen further her relationship with Australia, specially in view of the importance of these two countries in the Asia-Pacific region. “The emerging regional architecture is an important focus of both countries and we have committed to working together to strengthen peace and cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region,” said the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.4 “Relations between Australia and India are evolving into a strong partnership and India is committed to working with Australia to upgrade our bilateral relations in all areas,” he said. Commending the Australia India Business Council on the publication of the 2009 edition of Australia India Business Mr. Rudd observed: “No economic relationship can grow without strong and dynamic business links. Governments should play a role in establishing the right framework for an economic relationship to work, but it is of course up to companies and entrepreneurs to use that framework to convert the great potential of the Australia-India economic relationship into reality.” Today both the governments are exploring the feasibility of a Free Trade Agreement (FTA). “We are determined to now seize upon what we see as an historic opportunity to take our relationship with India to a new economic and strategic level. This momentum has occurred despite, not because of, any concerted Australian governmental effort over the past thirty years or so”, asserts Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs Stephen Smith.5 “During that time, the business community has certainly pursued its commercial interests. The growth in our commercial ties has outpaced government-to-government contact. While a number of States, including my own of Western Australia, have more recently been very active, governments in Canberra have frankly both under-appreciated and neglected our relationship with India for a long period. “This cannot continue”, he said. At the Australia-India Foreign Ministers Framework Dialogue in Canberra on 23 June, 2008 the Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs, Stephen Smith, and the Indian Minister for External Affairs, Pranab Mukherjee, underlined the strong bonds and enduring shared interests which underpin the Australia-India relationship. They affirmed that the two governments were committed to taking bilateral links to a new, higher level. They noted that existing and new forms of cooperation in a wide range of areas exemplified the growing depth and breadth of the Australia-India partnership.
“India has emerged as the fourth largest trading partner…..The growing economic linkages between our two countries present a solid foundation for us to build further on the many complementarities that exist between us. From the strategic perspective, I see Australia and India not as countries that are far away from each other, but in each others extended neighbourhood”, the Indian High Commissioner observed. It is strongly felt by both the governments that this bilateral trade partnership would strengthen further and could be raised to significantly higher level once the FTA study recommendations are arrived at and implemented at the earliest. The Australian government always sets very high standard for tariff liberalization in its FTAs because of its experience of “overwhelmingly positive impact of trade reform.”6 “We are on the threshold of an historic opportunity-Australian business realizes this. There is much more we could and should be doing together to unleashing the potential of the economic relationship. And it was a recognition of this that led to last year’s (2007) decision to undertake a joint feasibility study into a bilateral free trade agreement…..We can get quicker and more enduring growth if we focus constructively in an FTA process on some of the speed bumps which currently put limits on the economic partnership”, said Australian Trade Minister Simon Cren. Most significant and reassuring fact is that despite global financial meltdown both Indian and Australian trade and business and investors feel quite positive about the bilateral relationships of these two countries. “Despite the tough global economic environment I was pleased to find that from my discussions with a number of attendees the outlook and focus on Australia Indian trade and investment remains positive and robust. … Despite a tough economic environment, business interest in and from India is growing at a strong rate and AIBC is at the forefront of initiatives to capitalize on this interest”, said Mr. Brian Hayes QC, National Chairman, Australia India Business Council immediately after his return from Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) 2008 meeting in Chennai. And that alone possibly speaks volumes about the potential and prospects of Indo-Australian trade and investments. Sources
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The latest developments in company establishment process and requirements.
