Chennai: Australia will be supportive of India’s defence development initiative and also make a huge difference in enriching diverse fields particularly in education, health and tourism, Australian High Commissioner to India Harinder Sidhu has said.
And in Tamil Nadu, she said, there are very wide range of areas where “we can build the relationship especially in the filed of education and research where a lot can come out.”
“The health sector is very prospective — not just in Tamil Nadu but across the south (India) we find it in biotechnology, in primary healthcare, health technology and digital health is another area where we are doing lot more. So, there are large areas where you will see, unlike what you will see in big European or Asian manufacturers, you will really see a large number of Australian companies will set up here. What you will really witness is specific technologies that come in and make a particular difference somewhere,” she said responding to a question on the scope for Australia in partnering with India, especially TN’s development.
On the defence, particularly on the sidelines of the defence industrial corridor proposed for Tamil Nadu, Ms Harinder Sidhu replied, “Australian niche technologies can connect with the Indian manufacturing programme.. We do bring from time to time delegations to India and we had in January this year when the Australian Minister for Defence industry visited India to consider what the prospects are. I have been talking to Australian businesses that are appealing for defence contracts in India where a large part of that is not said…. In any defence manufacturing relationship government backing is important and definitely I can assure you that from our prospective we will definitely be supportive of that as well.”
Australian economy, Ms. Harinder Sidhu said, is more service oriented with very large resources in mining and agriculture “We are interested broadly in the Make In India programme in defence and civilian space in India because it is entirely feasible for us as we can produce some niche elements that can fit in with broader manufacturing base in India.”
So, the way Australia would approach is that it is not in the business of picking up whole Australian factory and bringing it to India for manufacturing. She made it clear that Australia would ensure its “niche technologies improved efficiency or quality in the manufacturing sector in India.”
