Peter Varghese: Economic relationship will be flagship of Indo-Oz ties
By Indrani Bagchi | Dec 5, 2012
Will India see much of you in your new role?
One of the good things about my new job is i'll be able to keep a close eye on the India relationship. We're in a qualitative new space in this relationship. We have now cleared the obstacles holding this back. The students' safety issue, while we don't want to be complacent about it, is behind us. We're seeing growth in student numbers applying to Australia. The uranium issue is now resolved. We've got some clear air in the relationship. We can focus on the underlying issues that connect us — they're just going to get stronger. Our interests are converging on the economic and geopolitical front. And there's enormous growth in the people-to-people relationship. The ingredients are there but we have to translate this into something that has real substance.
As FS, what would you focus on in this rapport?
The focus will be on implementation. We've headlined a convergence of interests. But translating these into practical steps will take the relationship further. From my perspective, the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement will be of importance. It can help us expand trade and economic opportunities. The economic relationship will be the flagship of the bilateral relationship — within that, energy is absolutely fundamental, especially if we can facilitate this through easier access to markets and investment.
On the geopolitical side, i'd like to see us working more closely together on the East Asia Summit (EAS), building this into a regional institution. This is a time of some fluidity strategically in Asia — it's important we create institutions that help us manage what's going to be a historic transition in the region. The history of Asia is not strong on institutions. This offers a good prospect to get a single institution that can deal with big issues in an integrated way. Australia and India have very common objectives. But we have to give shape to these.
Which issues are you particularly interested in?
Economically, we should look at deepening integration. This region has a terrific record for economic integration. We need to take that further. Trade facilitation's important in that context.
We need to develop confidence in our abilities to deal with each other because these economic shifts are going to have security implications. We have to learn to handle different dynamics. The next EAS will be held in the background of concerns about territorial disputes in the region. It would be natural for the EAS to discuss that. We all want to see those issues resolved in a way that upholds certain core principles, the most important being peaceful resolution of disputes respecting international law, freedom of navigation and the high seas. Building that level of confidence in the EAS, where we can discuss these issues sensibly and openly, is going to be very important.
The third area where we'd like to work more closely with India is the G20. We're going to chair the G20 in 2014. There are numerous challenges involved. The G20 did a remarkable job during the global crisis and its aftermath. Can we make sure it has an enduring role? Going beyond narrow economic issues, given India's position in the G20, particularly on areas like infrastructure and getting the architecture right, there's an opportunity for us together.
Peter Varghese, Australia's high commissioner to India, has been appointed his country's foreign secretary (FS). Speaking with Indrani Bagchi, Varghese discussed how the Indo-Oz relationship evolved despite serious troubles — and how this can grow warmer still:
Will India see much of you in your new role?
One of the good things about my new job is i'll be able to keep a close eye on the India relationship. We're in a qualitative new space in this relationship. We have now cleared the obstacles holding this back. The students' safety issue, while we don't want to be complacent about it, is behind us. We're seeing growth in student numbers applying to Australia. The uranium issue is now resolved. We've got some clear air in the relationship. We can focus on the underlying issues that connect us — they're just going to get stronger. Our interests are converging on the economic and geopolitical front. And there's enormous growth in the people-to-people relationship. The ingredients are there but we have to translate this into something that has real substance.
As FS, what would you focus on in this rapport?
The focus will be on implementation. We've headlined a convergence of interests. But translating these into practical steps will take the relationship further. From my perspective, the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement will be of importance. It can help us expand trade and economic opportunities. The economic relationship will be the flagship of the bilateral relationship — within that, energy is absolutely fundamental, especially if we can facilitate this through easier access to markets and investment.
On the geopolitical side, i'd like to see us working more closely together on the East Asia Summit (EAS), building this into a regional institution. This is a time of some fluidity strategically in Asia — it's important we create institutions that help us manage what's going to be a historic transition in the region. The history of Asia is not strong on institutions. This offers a good prospect to get a single institution that can deal with big issues in an integrated way. Australia and India have very common objectives. But we have to give shape to these.
Which issues are you particularly interested in?
Economically, we should look at deepening integration. This region has a terrific record for economic integration. We need to take that further. Trade facilitation's important in that context.
We need to develop confidence in our abilities to deal with each other because these economic shifts are going to have security implications. We have to learn to handle different dynamics. The next EAS will be held in the background of concerns about territorial disputes in the region. It would be natural for the EAS to discuss that. We all want to see those issues resolved in a way that upholds certain core principles, the most important being peaceful resolution of disputes respecting international law, freedom of navigation and the high seas. Building that level of confidence in the EAS, where we can discuss these issues sensibly and openly, is going to be very important.
The third area where we'd like to work more closely with India is the G20. We're going to chair the G20 in 2014. There are numerous challenges involved. The G20 did a remarkable job during the global crisis and its aftermath. Can we make sure it has an enduring role? Going beyond narrow economic issues, given India's position in the G20, particularly on areas like infrastructure and getting the architecture right, there's an opportunity for us together.
Comments
Post a Comment