Australia and India should look beyond their myopic view of current issues and concentrate on long-term relationship that would strengthen bilateral ties, says a report released recently in Sydney.
It said that free flow of people between the two countries would facilitate a workable and meaningful Free Trade Agreement (FTA).
The Report, titled, ‘Beyond the Last Decade,’ was prepared by the ‘Perceptions Taskforce’ at the Australia India Institute, indicating the seriousness with which Canberra views its existing relationship with India and suggesting ways and means of improving what this newspaper has often suggested as ‘constructive engagement with India.’
According to the Report, “a mixture of flawed policy and flawed perception” has impeded Australia and India optimising commonalities.
“We should look beyond the street crimes against Indian students in 2009-2010. Shared sensibilities have fostered a mutual respect at a public level, which has not frankly reflected in the relationship between governments,” the Report said.
The Taskforce took nine months to prepare the Report, which took into account the views and suggestions of eminent Australians and Indians in both countries.
It has submitted 31 suggestions, the most significant of which is offering extensions and concessions to students from India who were affected by the changes to Australia’s immigration policy (post 2009).
Arrival visas
The Report has also suggested establishment of permanent naval attaché positions in the Indian and Australian High Commissions respectively in Canberra and New Delhi.
“India should consider a policy of visas-on-arrival for Australian citizens arriving at its ports and explore potential for joint operations between the Development Partnership Administration (DPA) Division of its Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and AusAID in humanitarian and technical-assistance programs in third countries,” it said.
“The Indian Government should restructure the territorial divisions of its MEA by hiving off Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands into a new unit outside the current Southern Division,” the Report said.
Welcoming the Report, Australia India Institute Director Professor Amitabh Mattoo said that it provided a roadmap to improve Indo-Australian relations across diplomacy, trade, business, media, education and other areas.
“Such a roadmap would translate the notion of an Australia-India concord into reality. The Australia-India relationship is an idea whose time has come. This Report provides a sensitive understanding of the problem of perceptions that impact on the relationship, and recommends ways the two countries can move ahead in the Asian Century,” he said.
Taskforce Co-Chair and former Australian High Commissioner to India, John McCarthy described the Report as timely.
“Most observers agree that each country does not fully understand the other. This Report tries to canvass why this is so, and what needs to be done,” he said.
Taskforce Co-Chair and Director for Geo-economics and Strategy at the International Institute of Strategic Studies, London Sanjaya Baru said, “From political and naval cooperation to energy and food security, the canvas for Indian and Australian engagement is vast,” he said.
Former Indian High Commissioner to Australia Gopalswami Parthasarathy, University of Melbourne Vice Chancellor’s Fellow and former MP Maxine McKew, Indian columnist Ashok Malik and Australian author and journalist Christopher Kremmer were among the members of the Taskforce.
Photo : Members of the ‘Perceptions Taskforce’ (from left) Christopher Kremmer, John McCarthy, India’s High Commissioner to Australia Biren Nanda, Ashok Malik, Maxine McKew, Gopalswami Parthasarathy and Professor Amitabh Mattoo at the launch of Report in Canberra on July 17, 2012.
