Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott on Tuesday said his nation welcomes India's rise in the Indian Ocean Rim Region, and added that his nation is keen on sealing a free trade agreement with New Delhi soon.
"It was Prime Minister Howard who had once said that Australia and India had so much in common, but little to do with each other. That must change. Australia welcomes India's strength in the Indian Ocean. Australia admires Prime Minister Modi's invitation to come 'Make in India', which echoes our own determination that Australia will be open for business. But despite that, regrettably, Australia only did 15 billion dollars worth of business with India last year, and that hardly does justice to our two countries potential," Abbott said during an address to a joint session of the Australian Parliament.
"We want to be a dependable source of energy security, of resource security and of food security for India. If all goes to plan, next year, an Indian company will begin Australia's largest ever coal development programme, which will light up the lives of a hundred million Indians for the next half a century. If all goes to plan, and no one, if I may say so, has ever made the Indian bureaucracy perform, as Prime Minister Modi did in Gujarat. By the end of next year we will have a free trade deal with what is potentially the world's largest market," Prime MInister Abbott said.
Prime Minister Abbot also referred to his country's willingness to sell uranium to India.
"And, if all goes to plan, Australia will export uranium to India, because cleaner energy is one of the most important contributions that Australia can make to the wider world," the Abbott said.