Australia for stronger trade ties with India

Australia, especially the state of New South Wales, wants to clinch every opportunity to strengthen trade and business links with India, officials have said.

"India is becoming a major trading partner for Australia and New South Wales. With the expanding affluent middle class in India, it is time Australia and NSW strengthened trading links with the sub-continent," said New South Wales Premier Bob Carr while officially welcoming the newly appointed Indian High Commissioner to Australia Prabhat Shukla.

Shukla, who held discussions with top officials in Sydney over the past two days, said "the depth of interest in India is very encouraging. Most people in the two countries are hoping to work together in the field of business as the top priority and culture as a parallel priority."

He expressed hope that two countries will work in both directions as actively as possible. "We are planning to project Indian culture in a big way, particularly the young, globalised, changing India which we have lived in and lived through the last decade."

"I am very optimistic that our bilateral relations will further strengthen," he said.

Emphasising that bilateral trade needs to be enhanced, Carr said "we share a common language, common national day (January 26), common membership of the Commonwealth, and a common national obsession viz cricket."