Senator the Hon Helen Coonan Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts
Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate
Australia & India —closer ties
Address to the Australia India Business Council
Sydney
Friday 12 May 2006
Thank you Neville [Roach, National Chair , Australia India Business Council] for both that introduction and the invitation to address today's luncheon.
I have a long and regular association with India . I have visited many times – the most recent last year – in both a personal and professional capacity.
I would like to extend a very warm welcome—as warm as the welcome I have received in India —to our guests from the Indian National Association of Software and Services Companies here today.
CeBIT
I understand that one of the reasons your Association visited Australia was to attend one of the leading ICT event and trade shows in Australasia - CEBIT.
CeBIT is a great platform for relationship building, knowledge sharing and information exchange among leading businesses, / industry experts and research professionals. I hope you found CEBIT useful and rewarding.
Useful in terms of setting up new networks, and rewarding in terms of trade opportunities and technology solutions for your particular business.
I also hope that Australian businesses featured prominently in any negotiations!
Linkages
Australia and India have a history of working together and our bilateral relationship has, in recent years, gained strength.
This is based on our shared economic interests and our growing
- strategic,
- cultural and
- people-to-people links.
Our ability to work together cooperatively is a powerful business tool.
There are substantial opportunities for cooperation, for example, following the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games.
India 's successful bid to host the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi opens up many opportunities.
Australia is keen to share its recent practical experience with India in :
- event management,
- construction
- and sports technology products and services.
Bilateral trade and investment
The Australia-India economic relationship has also grown steadily in recent years and has the potential to increase considerably as India 's economic expansion continues.
More than 1,500 Australian businesses have export interests in India and a growing number of Indian businesses are forging a presence in Australia .
The volume of trade in services in India has more than doubled over the past decade.
The total bilateral trade of goods and services between Australia and India was worth A$9.4 billion in 20051, placing India 13 th on the list of Australia 's trading partners.
The trade relationship is dominated by merchandise trade, with Australian's merchandise exports to India reaching A$6 billion in 2004-05.
Reciprocally Australia exported A$852 million worth of services to India in 2004-05.
Australia is a significant foreign investor in India . We are now India 's 8 th largest overseas investor with around $1 billion approved for around 140 joint ventures2.
Australian firms also have a growing presence in India both in ICT and other sectors including the support of infrastructure development.
Australian ICT firms such as ANZIT, AttraInfotech, ADC Krone, Modular Mining Systems and Surpac Software are well established in India .
Business opportunities
I saw first hand when I visited India recently the economic progress of the last decade. It has been nothing short of spectacular and is commanding the attention of every country in the world.
India is becoming an increasingly influential global and regional player and has emerged as one of the key ICT powers in the world.
It is a country of growing importance to Australia and we are committed to enhancing and expanding our trade and investment relationship with India .
High level visits to India
In March this year, Australia 's Prime Minister John Howard, led a high-level delegation of business representatives to New Delhi , Mumbai and Chennai.
The Prime Minister's visit demonstrates the importance Australia places on promoting business interests and deepening the commercial linkages with India .
The signing of an Australia-India Trade and Economic Framework Agreement during the Prime Minister's visit provides an important basis for furthering our trade and economic relationship.
This Agreement will also encourage closer strategic cooperation in many of the key economic sectors, including ICT.
When I visited India last October I led an ICT delegation of 23 Australian business and research leaders.
We met government and business leaders in New Delhi , Mumbai and Bangalore and visited some of India 's leading ICT companies.
These included HCL Technologies, / Infosys, /Tata Consultancy Services, /Satyam, /and NIIT Technologies.
We came away from that visit excited by the potential of doing business together.
India and Australia have many complementary ICT strengths and capabilities.
Australian companies have a range of high-value skills and innovative ICT solutions and technologies. These complement the impressive software development and implementation skills of India 's companies.
My strong view is that Australia should be more than a customer to India – we should be a partner.
Joint ventures and collaborations between our innovative companies present tremendous opportunities for developing novel products and services and joint bidding for projects in global markets.
The partnership agreement signed between CSIRO and Infosys during our India visit last year was an example of the great outcomes we can ahcieve.
This agreement includes cooperation in research and development in the information engineering field and commercialisation of CSIRO's intellectual property.
It also demonstrates the potential for Australian and Indian organisations to partner and collaborate on mutually beneficial information technology projects.
ICT Memorandum of Understanding
The Australian Government is committed to strengthening and expanding its relationship with India .
India and Australia have many common priorities for the ICT policy.
We have a common interest in applying ICT in key government services such as health, education and e-government, particularly to regional and remote areas.
The signing of a Memorandum of Understanding during my visit to India last October is a formal expression of our mutual desire to promote ICT trade and investment.
It also represents a commitment to foster the growing industry partnerships and government ICT links between our two countries.
To keep this moving a Joint Working Group was established to implement the Memorandum.
This will enable government to government contact to be maintained and strengthened including addressing any policy issues that may arise.
Potential joint projects, in the application of ICT, will also be explored.
The Memorandum also recognises the fundamental role of business to business contacts in progressing our relationship.
It also highlights the importance of ICT to the entire economy.
Importance of ICT
I imagine everyone in this room would agree on the importance of ICT but it is important to continue to promote this message outside the ICT community too .
We must convince the wider community of policy makers and industry of the key place ICT plays in the future of both our nations.
To help do this Australia has conducted a range of research projects to estimate the impact of ICT in the economy.
This research has shown that technology, including ICT has directly contributed up to 85 per cent of productivity growth in the manufacturing sector over the last two decades.
It also shows that ICT has directly contributed up to 78 per cent of productivity growth in the services sector in the same period.
This is when only 45 per cent of Australia 's ICT professionals are in the ICT sector.
The rest— 55 per cent —are distributed across the economy including services, transport, manufacturing and agriculture.
These numbers really highlight the value of ICT .
They provide strong justification for continued Government efforts to stimulate this sector's development and diffusion to help create an information economy that is attractive for investment.
Investing in Australia
The presence of major Indian companies in Australia is testimony to the attractiveness of Australia 's market, and a vote of confidence in the bilateral trade and economic relationship between the two countries.
In a globalised world, investment goes to where the better return exists and the security of investment is most likely guaranteed.
Australia has consistently been a strong performer compared with other developed economies with productivity growth among the highest in the developed world.
Australia's sustained economic growth, business environment, / cost advantages, / skills base, / and sophisticated market makes it a compelling and low risk location for investment.
An Australian Bureau of Statistics report in 2002-03 indicated that the value of information and communications technology goods and services produced by specialist firms in this sector and others was valued at $65 billion.
This makes Australia the fourth largest market for ICT in the Asia Pacific and 13 th in the world.
Australia has a highly educated and skilled workforce, advanced infrastructure and excellent research and development facilities.
Education is an area of increasing importance to the bilateral relationship.
There are great opportunities for our two countries to collaborate on the provision of ICT related education and training.
In recent years, Australia has become a firm favourite of Indian students wishing to study overseas.
Indeed, India is the second largest source country for international students in Australia with the number of Indian students coming to Australia growing by about 35 per cent from 2002 to 2005.
Conclusion
Events such as today's lunch—followed by a business-to-business networking session—serve as a formal and practical channel for dialogue, collaboration and relationship building between our two countries.
Industry involvement is vital to drive the practical relationships that underpin any successful trading relationship.
The work of Industry associations such NASSCOM and the Australian Information Industry Association play a crucial leadership role as does the Australia India Business Council as a key body for promoting business links between Australia and India .
I am pleased to say I count several of NASSCOM's leaders as friends and I must say the organization is in good hands.
I would also like to thank the Australia India Business Council and the indefatigable Neville Roach for hosting today's luncheon. Neville's role in bringing our two countries together should never be underestimated.
I also look forward to working together on strengthening our bilateral ties and on even closer cooperation between the two countries.
On a personal level I am deeply committed to the Australia-India Relationship.
My long personal relationship with India and its people, and the strong ties that we have forged through recent professional visits, make me even more determined to build and strengthen the bonds between our two countries.
I intend to use my position in the Australian Government to promote this vitally important relationship, and I would urge you all to do the same.
Thank you.