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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2011-09-27 Daily Xml
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PREMIER'S TRADE MISSION TO INDIA

Ms THOMPSON (Reynell) (15:14): My question—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Member for Reynell.

Ms THOMPSON: My question is to the Premier. Can the Premier update the house on the nature and purpose of his recent trip to India?

The Hon. M.D. RANN (Ramsay—Premier, Minister for Economic Development, Minister for Social Inclusion, Minister for the Arts, Minister for Sustainability and Climate Change) (15:15): Well over a decade ago India was identified as an emerging giant economically. Indeed, since 1994, India has had one of the world's fastest growing economies, in part from increased economic engagement with the rest of the world. It was the very strong advice in 2003 of the former head of the World Trade Organisation and a member of South Australia's Economic Development Board, Mike Moore, that South Australia pay particular attention to the opportunities India afforded to our state.

It surprised me, actually, that I was the first premier of South Australia to ever officially travel to India when I led the first trade mission there in 2004. Following that visit, South Australia established its own trade office in Chennai, formerly known as Madras, headed up by former Austrade officer Mr A.K. Tareen, who has vast experience in Indian trade. I know there have been a series of visits by ministers since that time and also by business delegations. I also pledged to keep returning to India, and I believe that that strategy is paying dividends.

In fact, the fact that South Australia has really turned its attention to India has seen India go from being I think our 16th biggest trading partner to our third biggest behind China and the United States, and there is every prediction that it will become our second biggest trade export destination in the next couple of years. We have seen in the last year alone I think a 72 per cent increase in exports to India. From 2005-06, our annual exports to India have grown from $106.4 million to $600 million in 2009-10. Obviously, there are a range of exports: copper, refined lead, coke, agricultural products and education, but in a range of other areas as well.

I am pleased to tell the house that on 7 August I returned from my sixth official visit to India. On this visit I was accompanied by South Australia's Special Envoy to India, Brian Hayes QC; Denise Von Wald from Education Adelaide, which of course brings together our educational institutions, and in terms of marketing overseas they have done an outstanding job, as has Denise Von Wald; Stephen Conroy from TAFE SA; and Stephen Annells from DTED. The itinerary included New Delhi and Mumbai, and my first visits to Kolkata and Ahmedabad.

For the information of the members of this house, Ahmedabad in the state of Gujarat is now considered to be the growth engine state of India. During this mission I met with a number of chief ministers of individual states, the federal Indian Minister for Education and a number of state ministers, and addressed the Chambers of Commerce and the Confederation of Indian Industry within each of the states I visited.

Once again, the visit generated a good deal of media interest, which helps to sustain South Australia's profile, ensures that our enthusiasm for doing business with India is well known and builds goodwill. The commitment to India has allowed us to make better contacts over the years, and on this visit we secured meetings with some of India's biggest and best-performing companies to pitch investment opportunities here in South Australia. This included meetings with Noel and Ratan Tata from the giant Tata Group; Gautam Adani, Chairman of the Adani Group; and H.C. Daga from Essel Mining and Industries Limited. All were interested in our resources, exploration and mine development, infrastructure, advanced manufacturing and clean technology industries.

It was interesting to see how the nature of the visits had changed, whereas on previous visits the biggest amount of attention and interest was in the area of international education. This time it was very much resources focused, although with still a very strong educational focus as well. I was delighted that the Chairman of the Adani Group, Gautam Adani (one of India's most successful business identities), and four members of the Adani Group executive have already accepted my invitation to come to Adelaide to further discuss mining, resources and oil and gas, as well as infrastructure opportunities in South Australia.

During their visit last week I met with Mr Adani and his delegation, and they received presentations from the Chairman of the Economic Development Board, Mr Raymond Spencer, as well as from Mr Hayes, about opportunities in South Australia. The Adani Group is a diverse global corporate company with interest in infrastructure, global trading, logistics, energy, ports, mining, oil and gas, agribusiness, consumable goods and real estate development.

They are recognised as India's largest coal importer, operator of the country's largest private port, developer of the largest multiproduct special enterprise zone and owner of the largest edible oil refining facility in India. They have already pledged to come back again within the next 45 days or so for another visit.

India now officially has 1.2 billion people. The economic growth rate is more than 8 per cent. It has one of the largest populations under 25 years of age. To cope with this population growth, India needs hundreds of new universities, thousands of polytechnics and over one million extra teachers to educate its vastly growing student population by 2016.

My visit to India coincided with an official visit by the federal minister with responsibilities for further education, Senator Chris Evans. It was in New Delhi with me that he announced that Indian students in Australia will be able to complete part of their degrees at Indian universities, and Australian students are encouraged to study in India under a bilateral MOU signed with the Indian Minister for Education, Kapil Sibal, that would enable greater recognition of prior learning and credit-sharing arrangements.

This provides opportunities for South Australia because it creates further goodwill between the two countries and will establish new student and academic relationships and strengthen existing ones. India indeed has set itself a goal to train 500 million people by 2022—not all of that can be done in India and not all of it by governments, and that is vocational training that I am referring to.

Attracting Indian students to South Australia was and remains a key part of our missions. I can confidently tell the house that the mission was by far the most productive and successful in terms of potential outcomes for our state and in relation to the promotion of South Australia in India. Certainly, I think, persistence pays off, and we are receiving considerable credit in India as the state that has worked hardest on relations between Australia and India.

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