There is something special about India: Australian minister

Canberra, Jan 16: Australian Trade and Investment Minister Andrew Robb Friday said there is something special about India and his country will be a part of this important period in India's re-emergence as a significant power.

"There is something special going on in India. The enormous vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has excited many people. Australia is looking forward to being a part of this very important period in India's re-emergence as a significant power," said Robb in a statement issued here.

Robb arrived in India Jan 9 and participated in the Australia Business Week in India(ABWI)roadshow Jan 12-15 to boost trade and investment between the two countries.

He met Modi, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and a number of other ministers.

He led a trade mission to India of over 450 Australian business leaders, including British-Australian multinational metals and mining corporation Rio Tinto chief Sam Walsh, Australian petroleum exploration and production company Woodside CEO Peter Coleman and Australian mineral exploration and extraction company Hancock Prospecting chair Gina Rinehart.

ABWI visited eight cities, including Mumbai, Delhi, Chandigarh and Kolkata.

"This delegation has shown the Indian business community that Australians are willing, as we would say, to put skin in the game," he said.

"We have seen a number of deals this week in a variety of sectors building the business bonds between Australia and India," he said.

These include agreements between Woodside and the Adani Group on LNG supply, Wollongong University and Pandit Deendayal Petroleum University on mining excellence, the National Australia Bank and the State Bank of India and the SAE Institute and Reliance Media in the film sector.

Robb interacted with a number of Indian business leaders, including Adani Group's Gautam Adani, Mukesh Ambani from Reliance Industries and Tata Consulting chief Natarajan Chandrasekaran.

He also welcomed Walsh as the Australian co-chair and Adani as the Indian co-chair of a revitalised Australia-India CEO Forum.

"Our top business leaders will be critical to the success of this relationship. I'm confident they're up to the task of building trade and investment, which will create jobs and increase prosperity for the people of our countries," Robb said.

Robb welcomed the strong reiteration from Modi of his commitment to finalise a comprehensive bilateral trade agreement by the end of this year.

"I will keep coming back to India to ensure we get our negotiations over the line this year. This is a key priority for both our prime ministers," he said.

He also attended Vibrant Gujarat 2015 and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Australia-India Business Summit and the CII Global Partnership Summit.