Australia beckons bilateral relations with India

Chennai, Oct 4: South Australia has announced the celebration of October as the 'South Australia Month in India' in a bid to build stronger bilateral ties at people-to-people level.

South Australian Minister for Education, Tourism and Children Services Jane Lomax Smith launched 'South Australia - A Brilliant Blend,' a promotional campaign featuring the cricketer and South Australia's special envoy to India Darren Lehmann, at a colourful function here last night.

She said a number of high-level political visits, business delegations, sporting events, educational contests, scholarships, seminars and promotions would mark the celebration across India.

Ms Smith said South Australian Premier Mike Rann would visit India, accompanied by a business delegation, towards the end of October. He would call upon top political and business leaders in India to promote trade and investment ties.

Seeking sister state relationship with Tamil Nadu, which had synergy in areas such as education, sports, agribusiness, films, water and automotive would also be on the agenda, she added.

Stating that South Australia had a brilliant blend of lifestyle, business, education, sports and culture, she said with a Mediterranean type climate and exceptional quality of life, Adelaide had been rated by Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) as amongst the top five most liveable cities in the world.

''For Indian filmmakers seeking exotic locales, South Australia offers a complete range - right from parched deserts to green rolling hills, intensely wooded forests to intact period urban locations, beautiful beaches to lovely vineyards, red sand dunes, white salt lakes -- all within a very short distance from Adelaide,'' she remarked.

Ms Smith said Adelaide, which had four world class universities, was one of the leading academic centres of the world and most sought after by Indian students.

During the first seven months of this year alone, 1,898 Indian students had chosen South Australia for higher studies, an increase of 40 per cent over the same period last year, she said.

She said South Australia had a proactive policy to increase its population from the current 1.6 million to two million by 2050. The students passing out of South Australian Universities would qualify for five bonus points while applying for immigration, she added.

UNI