Prime Minister of India - Dr. Manmohan Singh

PM’s speech at the banquet hosted in the honour of the Prime Minister of Australia

Your Excellency Prime Minister Julia Gillard, Distinguished guests, Ladies and gentlemen,

It gives me great pleasure this evening to extend a very warm welcome to Prime Minister Gillard on her first State Visit to India. Prime Minister Gillard is an ardent advocate of a closer and more vibrant relationship between India and Australia. She has led personally from the front in giving new meaning and direction to our relations. I believe her current visit will set the tone for a much more intensive relationship between our two countries.

Madam Prime Minister, in your previous responsibilities as Australia’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Education, you were instrumental in launching an annual Ministerial Dialogue on Education during your last visit here in 2009. That dialogue and the steps taken by the Australian Government since then have helped redress a number of issues faced by the Indian student community in Australia. The conclusion tonight of an agreement on Student Mobility and Welfare in your presence is therefore a fitting culmination of what you put into motion. It was again under your personal initiative that the Australian Labour Party reviewed its policy on uranium sales to India last year, enabling us to agree tonight on beginning negotiations for a bilateral agreement on civil nuclear cooperation.

Prime Minister Gillard personifies the freedom and equality of opportunity that India and Australia stand for. In her focus on education, health and employment policies, we see a reflection of our own priorities at home. She has steered the Australian economy admirably during the turbulence caused by a worldwide recession. Given the momentous shifts taking place in economic and political gravity in our respective regions, it shall be India’s endeavour to work together with Australia towards maintaining peace and stability in our regions and bringing development to our peoples.

Relations between India and Australia trace their origins to our colonial period. Even during the Cold War years, Australia remained a visible presence in our popular psyche. A large Indian-origin community of nearly half a million has made Australia its home. Our shared belief in parliamentary democracy, secularism, multiculturalism and free enterprise provides the basis for our relationship. The linkages of the English language and the Commonwealth bind us together and pave the way for greater cooperation. We can, of course argue about which one of us is more passionate about cricket, but there is little doubt about what this sport has done to bring us closer together.

While we should take satisfaction in the state of our relations, I feel their full potential is yet to be tapped. Trade and investment flows, while growing, need more balance. Energy security should occupy more of our attention. And our own developmental plans should seek to leverage Australia’s considerable expertise in skills training, water modeling and environment. I look forward to working with you, Prime Minister, to bringing our dialogue on these issues to early fruition. I have no doubt that, in the years ahead, our two countries will build ever-deeper connections to the benefit of both our peoples.

May I now request you to join me in a toast to:

- the health and personal well-being of Prime Minister Julia Gillard;
- the progress and prosperity of the friendly people of Australia; and
- ever closer friendship and cooperation between India and Australia.