Good night.
I would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land on which we meet and pay my respects to elders past, present and emerging.
I am delighted to be speaking alongside the Foreign Minister tonight and want to join her in congratulating Tim Thomas and his team at the Australia-India Relations Center for organizing this wonderful celebration.
I would also like to thank His Excellency Gopal Baglay, High Commissioner of India to Australia, as well as my federal and state counterparts and my parliamentary colleagues here tonight.
Tonight I will outline the progress we have made in deepening our economic ties with India over the past two years.
I will also highlight some of the key outcomes of this year's Budget to help our businesses take advantage of the incredible export opportunities in India while attracting the innovative investment needed to build a made-in-Australia future.
Finally, I will outline how our Government intends to work with you, Australia's Indian business community, to advance our economic relationship with India in the years ahead.
Because we cannot talk about the future of the Australian economy without talking about India.
India now has the world's largest population and is on track to be the world's third largest economy by 2030.
Trade with India is shaping up to be a big win for Australia, now our fourth largest export market.
In the 14 months since the Albanese government implemented our trade deal with India, Australian businesses have seen a huge boost in exports.
During that period, more than $24 billion of Australian exports to India had zero or lower tariffs than many of our competitors.
Our trade agreement has strengthened our economic relationship with India in a variety of sectors.
In the case of agriculture, exports to India have increased by an astonishing 60 percent, including delicious products such as our avocados, salmon and almonds.
And manufactured goods such as electric motors and pharmaceuticals made here in Australia are being exported to India at record levels โ an increase of 66 per cent.
But we know that signing a trade deal with India only opens the door for exporters โ it may take a leap of faith to enter new and emerging markets.
That's why, in this year's Budget, we have provided more than $14 million in additional funding to expand the successful Australia-India Business Exchange program.
This investment will help Australian companies, like those here tonight, get up and running in India and expand across South Asia.
The exchange program will send trade missions to India in a variety of sectors, including agri-food, education, technology and energy and resources such as critical minerals.
And for the first time, we announced an expansion of pilot trade missions to Bangladesh and Sri Lanka to diversify trade opportunities in the Indian Ocean region.
In July this year, Austrade will lead the first business mission to New Delhi and Mumbai in partnership with Invest NSW, focusing on renewable energy storage and hydrogen.
These new industries of the future present a golden opportunity for Australia and an Australian-made future.
A lot has changed in the last two years since we came to government.
We have seen a dramatic shift in global supply chains following a once-in-a-generation pandemic.
We have increased our ambition to tackle climate change and set new renewable energy targets.
And we've made great strides to drive manufacturing and value-added here at home, through our $22.7 billion Future Made in Australia package.
We will continue to work with our trade partners, including India, to position Australia as the best place to invest in new clean energy industries, such as renewable hydrogen, batteries and critical minerals processing.
Because India has not stood still either.
India's rapidly growing middle class, adoption of technology, renewable energy and demand for world-class educational services and tourism experiences present opportunities to strengthen our economic ties.
We must be willing to focus our efforts, priorities and approach to engagement with India to better position ourselves in the coming decades.
To that end, I am proud to announce tonight that the Albanese Labor Government will begin consultations on a future roadmap for Australia's economic engagement with India, building on the 2018 India Economic Strategy.
We will seek to forge new areas of cooperation, beyond those first set out by former DFAT Secretary and High Commissioner to India, Mr Peter Varghese, in his landmark India Economic Strategy six years ago.
We will focus and accelerate our work and harmonize our efforts with state and federal governments, businesses and community organizations.
We believe that a new Roadmap will help us go even further in our trade and investment relationship with India and help us seize the opportunities of the net zero transition.
Of course, we will also continue to negotiate our next free trade agreement with India and push for the best possible deal for Australia.
We have maintained the momentum even as India is in the midst of elections; the most recent was when we received the chief Indian negotiator in Canberra a few weeks ago.
I am confident that we will reach an agreement with India, but we will only accept an agreement that is in Australia's national interest.
For us, this would mean commercially significant market access for our exporters, beyond what we received in our first deal with India, particularly in agriculture and manufactured goods.
Because we know that to build a made-in-Australia future, we must seek better access to the fast-growing markets in our region.
India is the fastest growing large economy in the world, so it is vital that we continue to work with them on new trade and investment opportunities.
I therefore encourage you all to submit proposals as part of our future roadmap for Australia's economic engagement with India.
Thank you all for being part of this fantastic celebration and enjoy the rest of the evening.
