An exclusive meeting with Ms. Frances Adamson, Secretary of Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (Foreign Secretary) was held on 23rd January 2018 in The Bengal Chamber Premises.

Ms. Adamson was accompanied by Mr. Chris Elstoft, Deputy High Commissioner, Australian High Commission, New Delhi; Ms. Hilary McGeachy, First Secretary (Economic), Australian High Commission, New Delhi and Mr. Partha Sen, Business Development Manager, Australian Trade and Investment Commission (Austrade), Kolkata.

Mr. Chandra Shekhar Ghosh, President; Mr. B B Chatterjee, Senior Vice President; Mr. Deb A Mukherjee, Vice President; Mr. Ambarish Dasgupta, Past President and Mr. Subhodip Ghosh, Director General were among the attendees from The Bengal Chamber.

The summary of discussions is as follows: Indo-Australia relationship has three conspicuous areas of importance, which are strategic dimensions, regional connectivity and economic reforms in India. Strengthening of these three areas will lead to a greater strategic partnership and synergy between the two nations. Australia sees enormous opportunity in 10 major sectors, where both the nations can work jointly. Out of which the 4 lead sectors are:

• Education (inter disciplinary and huge opportunity as there is already inflow of students from India including West Bengal and Eastern India to Australia)
• Agriculture (particularly potato cultivation and cold chain facilities)
• Energy
• Tourism (Eco Tourism)

These sectors are followed by niche skill development in services sectors such as

• Health and IT
• Financial services, and subsequently
• Infrastructure (Urban development)
• Environment management
• Defense
• Sports (Sports Management, where opportunities may be created here with Australian expertise)

West Bengal plays a key role as far as the aforesaid sectors are concerned. The State has a pivotal role in trans-national connectivity. The ports, riverine and coastal routes of the State play an extremely significant role in the Sub-ASEAN region.