On 21 March, Prime Ministers Scott Morrison and Narendra Modi held their annual leaders meeting. During this virtual meeting, they discussed Australia and India's negotiations on an interim Free Trade Agreement (FTA), and funding for initiatives to support expanded partnerships with India across a range of sectors, including education and technology.
On 22 March, Australia's Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment, the Hon Dan Tehan launched an update to the India Economic Strategy (IES). The IES Update package includes two Austrade-led initiatives — the Australia India Future Skills Initiative for education and the Australia India Innovation Network for the technology sector.
The Australia India Future Skills Initiative will establish a new digital platform, delivered in partnership with industry, to connect Australian vocational education and training (VET) providers, Indian businesses, government, students and employers.
The initiative will support capability development and capacity building in India by upskilling India's workforce through world-class Australian VET programs.
It will also help to build business relationships and establish Australia as the training partner of choice, as well as upskilling India's workforce and supporting Indian careers through employment pathways. This is critical as India has a growing youth population and a high skills demand, with one million people turning 18 each month.
The Australia India Innovation Network will support Australian technology companies to access India's rapidly growing innovation ecosystem and forge stronger links with customers, partners and investors in India.
During the launch of the IES Update, Minister Tehan also noted the Free Trade Agreement between India and Australia is in the final stages of development.
