Could the New England North West become the beating heart of trade between India and Australia?
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The region's political and business leaders are taking the head honcho of the Consulate of India in Sydney on a tour of the region in a bid to turn that hypothetical question into a plausible reality.
Consul general Dr S. Janakiraman was only halfway through the tour when he told the Leader he's already convinced our region will have a sizable role in the growing trade market.
"This region has a mix of business opportunities. On one side you'll find agriculture and ag-related business, and the other side is mining opportunities," Dr Janakiraman said.
India is Australia's sixth largest trading partner with two-way trade in goods and services valued at $46.5 billion in 2022.
The outreach initiative to Gunnedah, Tamworth, and Armidale came about as a collaboration between Business NSW, the Australia India Business Council, and the Consulate General of India, Sydney.
These organisations worked with employment facilitator Kate McGrath and CEO of think tank AUKUS Forum Michael Sharpe to plan a tour of several high-tech employers including Many Fabrication and Engineering, Andromeda Industries, and Vesi Water.
"These three I know have opened the mind to new opportunities in this region. There's definitely scope for building business between this region and India," Dr Janakiraman said.
The Consul General said he was especially impressed by Vesi water's cutting-edge technology which sucks water out of air like a wind trap from Dune.
Opportunity, but not without risks
Trade and investment between Australia and India have grown rapidly since both countries entered the Australia India Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement in December 2022.
Both countries are working towards enhancing trade even further by re-opening negotiations for an Australia-India Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement.
Business NSW Regional Director for the New England North West Diane Gray says now's the time to ensure our region doesn't get left out of these big-picture negotiations.
Ms Gray said there are huge opportunities for the region's agricultural, agri-tech, clean energy, and manufacturing industries to build up a market for exports to India.
"If we can meet the demand of when the Indian market needs those products, then there's a great opportunity for our region to produce an export and create another industry," she said.
At the same time, Ms Gray emphasised the importance of proceeding with caution so as not to disrupt local market prices for goods.
"Due diligence needs to be done on these opportunities ... we have to do our homework because the free trade agreement with India is only 18 months old," Ms Gray said.
"It's a young agreement which needs to mature, but these conversations are a great way to start to see what that looks like and what that economic impact is going to be on our region."
Most of all, she said what we really need is quicker ways of moving products from our region to major shipping and logistics hubs on the coast.
"We really need our Inland Rail. That has to get back onto the agenda for our state and federal governments because that will ramp up our productivity across agriculture and manufacturing," Ms Gray said.
She said while the QUBE inter-modal from Tamworth to the Port of Newcastle is a great boon, getting the Inland Rail project from Narrabri to North Star back on track will supercharge the local economy by adding air freight to our export arsenal.