No trade pact with India: Howard
The Australian
No trade pact with India: Howard
Steve Lewis, New Delhi
March 06, 2006
JOHN Howard is hoping to secure a series of breakthrough agreements covering defence, science and aviation during a four-day visit to India that will focus on forging stronger commercial ties with the emerging powerhouse.
Australia and India will sign a number of bilateral pacts but the Prime Minister yesterday played down prospects of negotiating a free trade deal with a country whose economy remains hampered by too much red tape and bureaucratic inefficiency.
Senior executives from Qantas, BHP Billiton, ANZ, Woodside, Santos, Commonwealth Bank, Rio Tinto and Hydro Tasmania will accompany Mr Howard, hoping to secure better entree — a firm sign that Australia’s commercial sector is eyeing opportunities to tap into India’s growing needs for clean energy and other infrastructure.
Mr Howard is hoping the sensitive nuclear issue will not overshadow his visit, only his second to India since 1996.
The focus on commerce will have the Prime Minister open an Indian office for Macquarie Bank.
The high-level business figures who have flown into India to accompany Mr Howard include transport magnate Lindsay Fox, ANZ and Woodside chairman Charles Goode, Santos managing director John Ellice-Flint, Thiess managing director Roger Trundle and BHP Billiton’s group president Bob Kirkby.
Paving the way for further trade opportunities, the Indian cabinet approved a revised air services agreement on Saturday delivering better access for Australian airlines.
No Indian airline currently flies to Australia, a situation that Sydney Airport chief Max Moore-Wilton — a member of the business delegation — is hoping to address.
Qantas may also be rewarded with additional flights into the huge Indian aviation market. The airline’s chief financial officer, Peter Gregg, is part of the business delegation.
Mr Howard described India as "one of the great coming powers of the world" and said he was prepared to consider more formal economic links if the need arose.
While Australia has aggressively pursued bilateral trade links in recent years, a formal pact with India is not on the agenda, he told reporters in Sydney.
"We’re not looking to have a free trade agreement ... it’s too early in the relationship to even contemplate that, but the whole purpose of the visit is to see if there are ways we can improve trade associations," the Prime Minister said.
