Australia’s ambitious roadmap focuses on deepening and diversifying its trade and investment ties with India identifying four "superhighways of growth" - clean energy, education and skills, agribusiness, and tourism.
Key highlights of the Roadmap
- Identifies nearly 50 specific opportunities to focus and accelerate Australia's engagement with India in several areas such as defence industries, sports, culture, space, and technology.
- Australia-India Trade and Investment Accelerator Fund: It will help Australian businesses unlock new commercial opportunities in India.
- Australia-India Business Exchange (AIBX) to accelerate B2B engagement.
- Reinvigorated Australia-India CEO Forum: To provide a key business-to-business mechanism to accelerate commercial engagement.
- Maitri ('friendship') Grants programme: To enhance P2P, B2B and cultural links between the two nations.
Evolving relationship between India and Australia
- Trade: Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (ECTA) 2021 gave a boost to free trade with Australia aiming to place India among its top three export markets by 2035.
- Nuclear cooperation: Civil Nuclear Cooperation Agreement signed in 2014.
- Strategic partnership: Australian Government in its National Defense Strategy (NDS) 2024 identified India as ‘top-tier security partner’ in the Indo-Pacific Region.
- Defense cooperation: Mutual Logistics Support Arrangement and Defense Science and Technology Implementing Arrangement have been signed.
- AUSTRAHIND, AUSINDEX, Pitch Black are a joint military exercise between two countries
