Over hundred people gathered at the University of Melbourne’s Arts West Centre where the Australia India Institute (AII) hosted the launch of Victoria’s India Strategy by Premier Daniel Andrews on Sunday afternoon, ahead of his first official visit to India this week.
Along with Premier Andrews, the Minister for Trade and Investment, Philip Dalidakis, Indian High Commissioner to Australia, Mr AM Gondane, AII Director, Craig Jeffrey were present with other government officials, members of the Indian community and representatives of Victorian universities.
Premier Andrews launched Victoria’s India Strategy: Our Shared Future and said the strategy is the result of hundreds of hours of consultation with more than 200 partners, including senior representatives from community organisations, business, government and academic groups within the Australian Indian community.
Source: SBS
Under the plan, Victoria which has the highest Indian population in Australia aims to double the value of goods exports to India from an annual average of $500 million to $1 billion in 2027.
The state has laid out a ten-year-plan to increase exports to India, attract more international students to the state and encourage tourist numbers and spending.
Source: SBS
The strategy aims to create jobs and grow the Victorian economy by:
- Doubling the value of goods exports – such as food and manufacturing goods – to India from a five-year annual average of $500 million to almost $1 billion by 2027.
- Increasing the number of Indian postgraduate research students in Victoria by 25%
- Doubling the number of Victorian businesses engaged in India from 150 to 300.
- Nearly tripling the expenditure by Indian visitors to Victoria to $885 million.
Mr Andrews is travelling to India on Monday, where he plans to showcase Victoria’s strengths as a world-class destination for international education, tourism, sports, culture and innovation in New Delhi and Bengaluru.
Premier Daniel Andrews said, “Our tourism, international education, sport and cultural and innovation offerings are the envy of the world. We want India to experience for themselves the best of everything Victoria produces.”
“We’ve worked closely with leaders and industry experts from the Australian Indian community on ways we can make our state’s bond with India even stronger.”
He is also expected to meet the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and implore him to extradite the hit-run killer of Puneet Puneet.
Indian national, Puneet Kumar, second right, is helped by his parents as they come out after being produced at a court in New Delhi (File Photo) Source: AAP
“He needs to be sent back here…he needs to face the justice he richly deserves,” Mr Andrews said on Sunday.
