Oz PM calls India ‘emerging democratic superpower’

Mumbai, Sep 4: Australia Prime Minister Tony Abbott on Thursday kicked off his two-day visit here by describing India as an “emerging democratic superpower”,

Abbott, the first head of government outside the leaders of SAARC nations to visit the country after the Narendra Modi government came to power, is visiting India to clinch a civil nuclear deal. Abbott, who will meet Prime Minister Modi in New Delhi on Friday, said the Indian leader’s call “come, make in India” is “close in spirit and in intent” to the phrase he had used in respect of Australia that “we are open for business”.

He said he wanted to make the most of “an abundance of opportunities” for business in India.

“This is a country which has amazed the world over the oast few decades with its growth and its development – the world’s second most populous country; on purchasing power ter ms, the world’s third largest economy; clearly, the emerging democratic superpower of the world, and a country with which Australia has long and war m ties,” he said in an interaction with a 30member business delegation at Hotel Taj Palace in Mumbai, where he reached on Thursday mor ning.

“The purpose of this trip, as far as I am concerned, is to acknowledge the importance of India in the wider world, acknowledge the importance of India to Australia’s future, to let the government and the people of India know what Australia has to offer India and the wider world for our part, and to build on those stronger foundations,” he said.

Noting how India has changed “enormously” since his last visit 33 years ago as a backpacker, Abbott said, “I can remember on my first day in Mumbai watching a bullock cart take material into a nuclear power station. Well, 33 years on, there aren’t that many bullock carts left in urban India, and the power stations – the nuclear power stations – are more sophisticated than ever.”

He said there is “an abundance of opportunities” in India. “I am determined to make the most of them; I know all of you are determined to make the most of them and I look forward to working very closely with you and with our Indian interlocutors over the next two days,” he told the delegation.

PTI