Andhra Pradesh and Western Australia have a long-standing relationship and the time has come to take it forward by a few more steps, Minister of IT and Industries Gudivada Amarnath has said.
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Mr. Amarnath was delivering the keynote address at a meeting on collaboration between the Government of Andhra Pradesh and the Government of Western Australia, here on Saturday.
Long coastline
Highlighting the industrial infrastructure in Andhra Pradesh, the Minister said, apart from the three major industrial corridors, the State was focussing on developing more multi-modal logistics hubs and strengthening and harnessing the 974-km coastline by building more ports and fishing harbours.
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Mr. Amarnath pointed out that the State topped in the Ease-of-Doing Business (EoDB), and Western Australia could tap the potential available in the sectors such as mining, education, fishing and aqua, pharmaceuticals, IT and energy.
Thrust area
He further said that Andhra Pradesh was progressing in the field of electric vehicles (EVs) and that both the governments could explore the avenues in this sector.
Roger Cook, Deputy Premier, Minister for State Development, Jobs and Trade, Tourism, Commerce and Science, Government of WA, said his country had all the elements needed for manufacturing lithium batteries, and this could be of help to Andhra Pradesh for the EV and battery manufacturing sectors.
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Vocational training
Finance Minister Buggana Rajendranath Reddy, in his presentation, said Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy was focussing on building quality industrial ecosystems, and suggested that Western Australia could collaborate in providing the skill sets to the youth by imparting vocational training.
David Templeman, Minister for International Education and Culture and Arts, Western Australia, said Indians constituted the highest number of foreign students studying in Australia, and there were a number of institutions that could train the students with the required skill sets, in tune with India’s National Education Policy (NEP).
Mr. Rajendranath also said that both the governments could collaborate in the areas of agriculture, aerospace and defence, biotechnology, and chemicals and petrochemicals.
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D. Balaiah, Regional Passport Officer, said the India-Australia Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) cemented the relationship, which needed to be taken further.
In the next few years, the trade between both the countries was expected to go up from US $45 billion to 70 billion.
The agreement had given clearance for about 6,000 goods and services on which there was no import duty.
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“Goods such as cotton, wool, copper and aluminium have zero import duty,” he said.
Both Mr. Amarnath and Mr. Balaiah hoped that the ‘Double taxation avoidance agreement’ be amended at the earliest for the benefit of both the countries.
Demographic dividend
Special Chief Secretary, Industries and Commerce, Karikal Valaven, said Andhra Pradesh enjoyed the demographic dividend edge, and that the growth of the State had been very good.
District Collector A. Mallikarjuna and G. Srijana, Director of Industries, Commerce & Export Promotion, spoke.
About six Memoranda of Understanding and Letters of Intent (LoI) were signed between the A.P. Economic Development Board (APEDB) and the Government of Western Australia.
This was the biggest ever trade and investment delegation from Western Australia to visit Andhra Pradesh.