Stronger links with India will boost prosperity, says Australian minister

Australia's Minister for Higher Education Senator Kim Carr on Friday said his country's critical trade and cultural relationship with India has been reinforced by the bilateral meetings held with his Indian counterpart Dr. M.M. Pallam Raju in Sydney.

In a statement issued by his office after the bilateral dialogue, Carr also welcomed the announcement of the 10 million dollars in funding from the Australia-India Strategic Research Fund (AISRF) for collaborative research projects.

Carr, and Raju had met for the annual Australia-India Ministerial Dialogue on Education Cooperation and the second Australia India Education Council (AIEC) meeting.

Carr said the ministerial dialogue underscored Australia and India's capabilities and objectives in education and training.

In his statement, he said he and Raju had acknowledged that the growing knowledge partnership in education, training, science and research had developed strong and expanding people-to-people links, which were at the heart of the strategic relationship.

"Today, I was very pleased to discuss with Minister Raju the range of collaborations between our two nations," said Senator Kim Carr.

"Australia and India's economies and peoples are among the best placed in our shared region to benefit from opportunities in the Asian century. If we are to maximise the gains from our position it is essential that we recognise and support each other's strengths in order to lift economic performance, at both a national and individual level, and boost both countries' economic prosperity."

The ministers jointly chaired the second meeting of the AIEC, which was formed to advance the Australia-India education relationship across focus areas including student mobility, higher education institutional collaboration and joint research, quality assurance, and skills.

"The council has given strategic direction to our bilateral education and training goals and it is encouraging to see how well the projects under the key focus areas have progressed since the first meeting in August 2011," Carr said.

Carr also announced funding for four major Australian-Indian research projects to tackle pressing challenges in health and energy.

"The additional 10 million dollars from the AISRF Grand Challenge Fund, to support Australian partners on four new collaborative projects will build on existing research links and go towards finding solutions to some of our greatest social challenges," he said.

"By working together we aim to deliver innovative and practical responses to some of the major challenges facing both countries- exploring new methods to develop low carbon energy sources and looking at how we can improve patient care and diagnosis through innovative science," he added.

The 64 million dollar AISRF has supported more than 100 projects and workshops, involving more than 80 leading Australian and Indian universities and research institutions, since it began. The Government of India supports Indian teams' participation in these joint projects.