Interview with Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop
NEW PARTNERSHIP:: “We are currently scoping opportunities to meet Mr. Modi’s ambition of a sporting diplomacy relationship betweenthe two countries.” —PHOTO: AFP
Australia’s Foreign Minister Julie Bishop was in Chennai to inaugurate a new Australian consulate in the city on April 15, 2015. She spoke to The Hindu ’s Srinivasan Ramani about a range of issues related to India-Australia ties. Edited excerpts from the interview:
After the implementation of the nuclear agreement between Australia and India signed in September 2014, you have pointed recently to the need for creative thinking to conclude the Administrative Arrangement for the nuclear fuel agreement. Can you please elaborate?
The Prime Ministers of our countries have both signed the civil nuclear cooperation agreement last year. The Australian government is determined to conclude the agreement as soon as possible. I believe there is political will on both sides to do so. There was a period when our previous government had cancelled an agreement on supply of uranium. So there were four key years lost in terms of negotiations that could have taken place. Now we have shown our determination to conclude the agreement. There are some parliamentary processes that need to be concluded. The agreement is being considered by a joint standing committee on treaties. Our officials will be here on April 23 and the final details will be resolved.
Since the last time our negotiators met, we have had access to the U.S.-India text [on nuclear negotiations held in January this year]. That is the kind of creative thinking that I was referring to. We do not intend to allow this opportunity to pass due to technical reasons. We will be looking to ways to accommodate Australia’s legislative requirements and India’s disposition.
Do you think there is bipartisan approval for these arrangements in the Australian Parliament?
The joint standing committee is made up of members of both the government and the opposition and so I can’t pre-empt their position. I would think that since the Labour party changed its position to support the civil nuclear supply agreement, there would be support in the Australian Parliament for it.
Last year in November, there was a new Framework for Security Cooperation signed between Australia and India. There was talk of conducting maritime exercises between forces of both countries this year...
My understanding is our first bilateral maritime exercises will be conducted this year. Defence Minister Kevin Andrews will be visiting India in September. I hope he is also coming to Chennai. We anticipate that this exercise will take place later this year. We are also looking at other multilateral exercises as it has been sometime since Australia took part in the Malabar exercises and other exercises such as “Pitch-Black” and “Kakadu”. We see these as opportunities for Australia and India to jointly hold exercises with other partners. We have a common interest in ensuring that our region is secure and we share the Indian Ocean region. Interoperability with the U.S. and closer engagement with Japan is important for both of us.
China had not taken too well to the Quadrilateral military exercises in 2007.
We would like to invite China to these exercises as well. We have carried maritime exercises with China before. I think it is a question of being open and transparent about what we are seeking to do.
Is there a possibility of expanding the nature of these maritime exercises from search and rescue exercises to more strategic ones?
Obviously, we are keen on expanding our strategic partnership with India. From a foreign policy perspective, we are keen on deepening our engagement with India both in terms of defence connections as well as economic ties.
India-Australia trade ties were to be expanded from $15 billion to $40 billion by 2015. What steps can we take?
Our two-way trade with China is about $160 billion. Clearly, there is enormous potential to expand trade and investment. There are some specific areas where our economies are very complementary. We recognise that with India’s projected growth there would be significant demand for energy. Australia is an “energy superpower”. We have abundant coal, oil, natural gas and uranium. While we also recognise that India has also its own reserves, we can provide high quality energy resources to India. There are many areas where Australia has strengths — in agriculture, health services, education. Likewise, India has great strengths in manufacturing — in the automative sector, particularly here in South India — and in Information Technology. I think there would be enormous benefits from a liberalised trading agreement between us at the goods level. But the exciting aspect will be in services and investment.
Obviously India needs to play to its economic strengths as much as Australia needs to as well. But we have recently concluded free trade agreements with China, Japan and South Korea. We want to ensure that our friends in India have access to the same markets and gain the benefits as friends in China, Japan and South Korea have managed to do.
Attacks against Indians in Australia have recurred. How would you reassure Indians there?
Of course, the government took the issue very seriously and put in place a number of initiatives to ensure that Indians felt welcome and safe in Australia. We hope that the students’ experience in Australia is a very positive one. There can always be random acts of violence anywhere around the globe. Indeed, there is an instance where we are seeking to extradite from India an Indian national who allegedly carried out an attack in Australia. These tragic incidents do occur. But our government is determined to ensure that the Indian students feel safe. Indeed, we are now sending Australian students here to study in India under a new initiative called the New Colombo Plan. This year, 340 Australian undergraduates will be studying in India. That is also an opportunity to develop friendship, networks and connections between Indian and Australian students to encourage two-way student exchanges.
Australia is seen in India as a major sporting nation.
We, of course, took the Cricket World Cup back off you!
The MRF Pace Foundation plays an important role in training pace bowlers in India. Are there any other initiatives of this kind in the offing?
Indeed. We are keen on what we call “sporting diplomacy” initiatives where we use sport as a bridge-building, friendship-enhancing exercise with other countries. I know Prime Minister Modi has focussed on sport as one area where Australia can continue to collaborate with India in terms of building skills, capabilities and capacities. We are friendly rivals on the sporting field, but great friends off the field. We are currently scoping opportunities to meet Mr. Modi’s ambition of a sporting diplomacy relationship between the two countries. It already exists! Most of our cricket team are already here participating in the IPL. We have had some great connections between Australian sportspersons and their Indian counterparts. Indeed, the last time I was in India was on the Saturday of Sachin Tendulkar’s last test match. What an extraordinary day that was in Mumbai! We certainly have a great deal of respect for each other’s sporting prowess.
Australia has deployed troops in Iraq to take on the Islamic State. Iraq is also a sectarian quagmire.
This is very clearly a global terrorist issue but also an issue that has very real domestic repercussions in Australia. As you are aware, we are deeply concerned that some young Australians are being attracted to the conflict in Syria and Iraq to fight on the side of this barbaric terrorist organisation, the IS/Daesh. We must do what we can to prevent Australians taking part in the conflict, putting their own lives at risk, adding to the miseries and sufferings of the people in the Middle East. In a deeply concerning way ...we want to prevent people coming back from there to Australia as hardened terrorists or extremists. So, we have a domestic national security interest in supporting the Iraqi government in its efforts to build up its capacity to defeat this terrorist organisation. So, yes, we are part of a coalition at the request of the Iraqi government. We are aware of the complexity of the conflict. The mission is for two years to build the Iraqi security forces’ capability. It is not to go, as they say, “beyond the wire”. We are there to help them build capacity so that they can take back territory from the IS and defeat them. To do nothing is not an option.
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