MEMBERS AREA

Neville J. Roach | November 12, 2009
Article from:  Economic Times of India

In all the years since I came to Australia from India in 1961, I have never seen a time when Australia has paid more attention to India than in 2009. The very welcome visit by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd follows a flurry of other visits by numerous Australian Cabinet Ministers and State Premiers to India and Indian Cabinet Ministers to Australia. While some visits were prompted by the issues affecting Indian students in Australia, most have had a much wider agenda covering many aspects of the bilateral relationship.

Why has India become so important to Australia? It is Australia's fastest growing merchandise export market, worth A$13.5 billion in 2008. Services exports to India, at A$2.5 billion, are also substantial. However, the most significant and strategic reason for India's importance is that it has become the major source of Australia's most critical need - skilled human resources. Australia has always had a skills shortage, a problem that will become even more severe as its population ages. Increasingly, Australia needs to enrich its economy and society by attracting India's best and brightest.

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