Australia will not be at periphery of India's vision: Modi
Canberra: Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said Australia will not be at the periphery of India's vision but at the centre of its thought, as he called for closer bilateral security cooperation and a comprehensive
“Today, we have a government with a majority after thirty years. From the remotest village to the biggest cities, there is a new high tide of hope in India; a new energy. It is the energy of our youth - the 800 million people below the age of 35 - eager for change, willing to work for it - because, now they believe that it is possible. That they can make it happen. It is this force of transformation that we will unleash.
“In the six months that we have been in office, we have moved forward, thinking with ambition, acting with speed; seeking growth not just for growth, but to transform the quality of life of every Indian,” Modi said. Lauding the people of Australia for making what the nation is today, Modi said generations of people's representatives have made the country one of the greatest nations of the world.
Prime Minister Modi also wished Australia the best for hosting a “great and successful” World Cup Cricket tournament early next year.
Abbott, who spoke in the Parliament ahead of Modi's address, said, if all went well, Australia will export uranium to India under suitable safeguards.
“I will make this declaration here in this parliament that there are two Prime Ministers in this chamber today and we will make it happen.
“If all goes well, Australia will export uranium to India under suitable safeguards because cleaner energy is one of the most important contributions that Australia can make to wider world. We want to be dependable source of energy, security of food and of security of India,” Abbott said in his address.
“If all goes to plan an Indian company will begin Australia's largest ever coal development which will light the lives of hundred and million Indians for the next of half century,” he said.
The Australian Prime Minister said that a new free trade agreement between the two countries is also on cards. “If all goes to plan, and no one, if I may say so, has made the Indian bureaucracy perform as Prime Minister Modi did it in Gujarat, by the end of next year, we will have a free trade deal with what is potentially the world's largest market,” he said.
Highlighting the growing economic and military prowess of India, Abbott lamented the fact that the business between India and Australia was only limited to USD 15 billion. “Australia welcomes India's strength in the Indian Ocean.
Australia admires Prime Minister Modi's invitation to come Make in India which echoes our own determination that Australia will be open for business but despite that regrettably Australia only did USD 15 billion business with India last year and that hardly does justice to our two countries' potential,” Abbott said.
“Although India's GDP per person is still only about half of China, its growth is strong and economic prospects are broad and population is likely to overtake China's in couple of decades. This is why people now speak of the Indo-Pacific.
It is now the focus of the world economic dynamism. With China, India is the rising superpower of Asia—the emerging superpower that is already a democracy,” he said. With Modi becoming the first Indian Prime Minister to address the Australian Parliament, Abbott said it was long due that a leader of world's largest democracy addressed the House.
Praising Modi for his electoral victory in May this year, Abbott said there was a lot to learn from Modi and his working style and how he got the bureaucracy got going.