talking about Indo-oz relations

Indian goodwill delegation tours major Australian cities to encourage mutually beneficial relations

Agoodwill delegation of Indian parliamentarians, led by Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs and Planning, Rajiv Shukla arrived in Melbourne recently. The delegates also visited Canberra, Perth and Sydney. They were offered a warm welcome by the Consulate of India in Melbourne and a reception was held in their honour at the Indian consulate in St. Kilda, hosted by the Acting Consul General of India, Raj Kumar. The reception provided the parliamentarians an opportunity to network and meet with media, leaders and members of the community.

During their visit, the delegates also visited Parliament House at all the cities on their itinerary. They took time to visit some local attractions including a much -anticipated trip to Melbourne Cricket Ground. In a bid to exchange ideas and resources with Australia, the delegates engaged in talks with Deputy Leader of the Opposition Julie Bishop; NSW Premier Barry O’Farrell; Minister for Foreign Affairs Bob Carr;

Premier of Western Australia Colin Barnett; and Speaker of the House of Representatives Anna Burke.

According to Mr Shukla, Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s visit to India in October 2012 was a milestone in Indian Australian relations. “There is a large scope to develop trade links as well with Australia, as the trade with India for Australia is worth USD 21 billion,” said Mr Shukla. According to him, efforts should be made to correct the trade imbalance between India and Australia and the two countries should aim to more than double their trade to $50 billion annually. He continued to say that resources of both the countries should be utilised on health, education and other developmental projects. He urged the Indian diaspora in Australia to be actively involved in the process.

Mr Shukla is currently chief of the Indian Premier League (IPL).

He was also a former journalist for Indian Express and Sunday Observer, and has contributed to several publications. Other delegates that accompanied him included the son of former Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar and leader of the Samajwadi Party Neeraj Shekhar; ShantaramLaxman

Naik from Indian National Congress (Goa); Vilas Baburao Muttemwar from Nagpur; Thaawar Chand Gehlot andRamen Deka of the BJP; and Bhartruhari Mahtab of the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) in Orissa; Jagdish Sharma from Janta Dal Bihar; Sudip Bandyopadhyay MP from Calcutta; TK Rangarajan from Communist Party Tamil Nadu; and Anant G Geete MP from Rajgad and Shiv Sena party member. J Helen Davidson MP from Tamil Nadu was the sole female representative to accompany the delegation.