Keen to partner for autocomp, water and education sectors
Besides associating with states within the country, this time on in Vibrant Summit, Gujarat is rubbing shoulders with states from other countries as well. South Australia, an Australian state, is keen to collaborate with Gujarat in the areas of water treatment technologies, defence, autocomponents and education. A K Tareen, senior trade commissioner, government of South Australia, has come looking for potential synergy areas between the western state of India and South Australia.
"Around half of Australia's automobile industry is located in South Australia, and we are looking forward to meet small and medium auto-component makers of Rajkot during the Vibrant Gujarat Summit.", Tareen said.
In his first visit to Gujarat, Tareen has lined up meetings with state bureaucrats and industrialists from the state. He says, "South Australia is the driest place in the Australian continent, and so we have developed technologies in water conservation and recycling. In June last year a delegation from South Australia had come to Gujarat, and this time on we are looking to explore more concrete opportunities in the area of technology transfer and other forms of collaboration."
South Australia has signed a national agreement with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) for thes CII Water Institute, and we are currently working closely with the industry body in the areas of capacity building in the sector. In one or two month's time a delegation comprising people from the water treatment sector would visit South Australia.
India is the fastest growing and second largest community of overseas immigrants in Australia, and there is huge scope for more influx of Indians into the country, feels the trade commissioner. "It is the eight most liveable city in the world according to the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) study of 2010. At the same time, it has been ranked second by KPMG as the most competitive city in Asia Pacific in terms of cost of living.", Tareen said.
Besides the corporate tie-ups and South Australia is also looking at attracting talent from India, as several skill deficit areas in a state of 1.5 million people are opening up eventually.
India is the fastest growing export market for Australia, with bilateral trade touching Australian $20 billion in 2010. Australian companies follow a July to June financial year. Also, merchandise exports from the state of South Australia to India touched Australian $600 million in 2010.
Ever since Australian trade commission officers started visiting various states in India in the last five years, bilateral trade has increased manifold. In 2005, bilateral trade between the two countries stood at Australian $100 million.
