No impediment by Australian government to uranium supply to India, Comprehensive Economic Agreement talks not on hold, talks to resume this year: Australian High Commissioner Harinder Sidhu

New Delhi, 17 February (VNI/ Shobhna Jain/Saroj Nagi) The India-Australia dialogue for a Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement—which was started in 2011 to boost trade and investment between the two countries--is expected to resume this year. Indian origin Australian High Commissioner to India Harinder Sidhu, who saw the ``strong’’ India-Australia relationship as ``our future,’ denied suggestions that the talks were on the hold. Two countries, she have commenced work on it after the new Australian minister, who came in following the June 2016 elections, assessed the ground covered on the issue.’ The Australian side has presented a stock take to India and New Delhi is examining it, Sidhu said in an exclusive interview to VNI during which she spoke on a wide range of issues. She stressed that Australia would be happy to conclude the agreement. The FTA or CECA talks, which have missed the deadline of finalization, have been mired on the two contentious issues: reducing tariff duties and Indian access to the service sector in Australia. ``But there are benefits to be had if we can resolve those,’’ she said to a query. Sidhu reiterated Australia’s strong support and advocacy for India’s inclusion in the 48 member Nuclear Suppliers’ Group. The two countries had signed in 2014 a nuclear cooperation agreement that cleared the sale of uranium to India and Canberra had followed it up by putting in place the implementing arrangements, including a legislation and legal framework to facilitate the export. But it is for the private sector companies to do it. Asked whether the supplies can start this year, Sidhu said ``I can’t speak for the private companies. Assuming that the private contractual negotiations go well what I can say is that there is no impediment to that from the Australian government’s side.’’ After the deal was signed, the private companies had showed interest in selling uranium for India’s peaceful nuclear programmes. But commercial negotiations take time, she said. The High Commissioner described the one year that she has just completed in office as ``very busy and very satisfying’’ as it reinforced the architecture of relationship built in the previous year and further strengthened the bonds between the two countries. According to her, the India-Australia relationship is based on its own terms and is not steered or impacted by changing world scenario, be it Brexit or the change of administration in the US. For her, it is important that the two countries carve out their own place and ``build a level of understanding and relationship and a genuine partnership that is unique and endures no matter what comes in the way.’’ With Australia engaging much more with Asia, `` Britain is our historical past, India is our future.’’ Sidhu is the second Australian High Commissioner of Indian origin to be posted in India after Peter Varghese whose parents had migrated from Kerala. Sidhu’s parents hailed from Punjab. The envoy took note of the marked increase in the high level interactions between the two countries, the expanding areas of cooperation and collaboration that ranged from strategic, military and counter terrorism to trade and investment as well as agriculture, education and other social sectors. A manifestation of the growing synergy was reflected in the G-20 and East Asia summits last year when the two nations worked together. As maritime nations, they have been cooperating in the Indian Ocean RIM Association. Both place a premium on developing the blue economy. Combating terrorism and increasing information exchange is also high on their agenda, wth Australia keen to learn how India deals with the menace. The joint working group on terror met last December. There is also a trilateral dialogue between India, Australia and Japan. Political cooperation has strengthened. Last year senior Indian ministers like Arun Jaitley and Piyush Goyal and Mahesh Sharma visited Australia. A return visit by senior Australian leaders is expected this year. There were exchange visits of the army and naval chiefs of the two countries. Four navy ships visited India. A number of working groups are working across the spectrum. People to people connections are being encouraged. Australia’s famed expertise in water management is being used for water conservation, irrigation, environmental work, river management, urban and agricultural water, including for the dry areas of Rajasthan, and the fisheries project in Tamil Nadu. Developing skills and tie ups with universities are being actively pursued. As part of Australia’s New Colombo Plan, approximately 1000 Australian students are also coming to India. An added dimension to the ties are the deals signed between Indian and Australian state in various fields. Sidhu said that while the relationship is getting deeper and more diverse, both countries would like to see greater trade and investment. Trade, that is tilted in favour of Australia, has increased to $20 billion in 2015-16 ---7.7% over the previous financial and up from $500-$600 million in 2004--- making India and its huge market Australia’s tenth largest trading partner. But it falls way short of the $150billion with China, $ 70 billion with the US, $60 billion with Japan or $33 billion with the Republic of Korea. India is part of the half a dozen odd countries in the $20 billion or odd bracket. Although Canberra sees the imbalance as beneficial to India since it can use the imported raw material to support its ability to manufacture and export goods, attempts are on to address the issue. ``I really think the Indian government is taking some very significant steps forward in improving the ease of doing business and in liberalizing investment rules. These are the sort of things that are really attractive to the Australian business community….I am hopeful that there will be a growth of trade and investment in both directions. It would be good to see more trade and investment from India,’’ said Sidhu. As for the attacks on the Indian students in her country some years ago, the High Commissioner maintained that Australia is the world’s safest country with the lowest crime rates and maintains a zero tolerance towards violence. She did not think that all those attacks on Indian students were racist; often it was because the victim found himselfherself in a vulnerable situation as for instance walking alone at night. There are half a million Australians of Indian origin and the fact that the Indian born population has tripled in the last 10 years is, according to her, not a sign of siege but an acknowledgment that people perceive Australia as a land that welcomes them. The government, she said, has tried to educate the students to be careful and also sensitised the police force. Much like India, Australia too is concerned about tax evasion. It set up a task force which is slated to give its report mid-year on how to fight the problem that continues to exercise the administration even though 70% of its transactions are digitized and online. Although terror funding and corruption are also issues, the primary challenge remains on how to bring the evaders into the tax payment system.VNI