Western Australia to explore biz opportunities in AP

Vijayawada: A 90-member business delegation from Western Australia will be arriving at Visakhapatnam on Saturday, July 16, to explore the mutual avenues of collaboration and partnerships in investment, trade and exports. This is the most ambitious investment and trade mission so far since Australia re-opened its international borders.

This particular visit has been earmarked as a significant one in view of the resumption of the India-Australia Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA), which envisages liberalisation and deepening of bilateral trade in goods and services.

The main objective of the visit is to focus on strengthening government and industry connections, unlocking opportunities for WA businesses in the Indian market, and promoting the state as a destination for tourists, students, talent, events, business and investments. The delegation has planned eight days visit to India from July 12 to 19, the delegation will be travelling to Delhi, Mumbai, Visakhapatnam and Chennai.

There will be about 90 business leaders from more than 60 organisations comprising mining, minerals, education, training and energy in the delegation. The delegation is led by Roger Cook, Deputy Premier, Minister for State Development; Jobs and Trade; Tourism; Commerce; Science and David Templeman, minister for International Education and Culture and the Arts. During this one-day visit, the delegates will participate in different programmes, including government and corporate meetings, site visits, industry briefings and roundtables, one-to-one business matching, and networking events with Indian government and industry representatives.

Further to strengthen the bilateral relations between the two parties, a letter of Intent has been proposed to promote closer engagements between the both parties in the fields of education and training; primary industries; mining; energy; health and medical life sciences; tourism and creative industries.

This would help the government to work in tandem on the 'window of opportunity' for forging new investment opportunities in the various thrust sectors of the state.

Peddireddi Ramachandra Reddy, minister for energy, forest, environment, science and technology; mines and geology, Botcha Satyanarayana, minister for education, Buggana Rajendranath Reddy, finance minister, Gudivada Amarnath, minister for industries and commerce, infrastructure and investment, IT will attend the event.