Apart from helping Tamil Nadu realise its Vision 2023, the Australian government is willing to provide its expertise in building low-cost houses and on vocational training education.
This was conveyed to Chief Minister Jayalalithaa by Peter Varghese, Australian High Commissioner in New Delhi, who called on her at the Secretariat on Tuesday along with David Holly, Australian Consul General to South India, and Michael Carter, Consul (Commercial).
Talking to The Hindu , Mr. Holly said: “We have placed before the Chief Minister some of our proposals in various fields, including vocational training education, agriculture, agricultural services, deep-sea fishing and cultural heritage. It also included preserving former Chief Minister K. Kamaraj's house at Virudhunagar through a conservation plan. The Chief Minister asked us to meet senior officials to take these proposals forward.”
Addressing the 22 annual day of Indo-Australian Chamber of Commerce (IACC), Mr. Varghese said Australia was keen on helping Tamil Nadu in various sectors such as vocational training education through ‘train the trainer and capacity building programmes'.
Speaking on ‘A perspective on current developments in the India-Australia relations,' he said, “The relationship between India and Australia, till a year ago, was bright; now it is very promising. We have put the student safety issue behind us. We were also able to remove the obstacle with regard to the sale of uranium. Now it is an opportunity for us to build our relationship on convergence of mutual interest.”
They would launching the ‘Ozz Fest', a four-month cultural festival, in six to eight cities in October.
Welcoming the gathering, G.R.K. Reddy, president, IACC, said the full potential of Indo-Australian business could be unleashed only by a massive flow of technologies and investment between the countries.
C. Sarath Chandran, director, IACC, said it had carried out research to find out why Indian exporters had failed to make a mark in Australia.
It came out with four findings – failure in packaging and quarantine, failure to find out consumer habits and lifestyle, absence of a single Indian brand and innovation.
