NSW Liberal Leader Kellie Sloane has announced she will lead a trade and investment mission to India within her first year as Premier, along with Gurmesh Singh, who would serve as Deputy Premier, if the Liberals and Nationals are elected to government in March.
With over 350,000 Australians in NSW of Indian cultural heritage and over $6.8 billion in two-way trade between NSW and India, Sloane said that strengthening the relationship to unlock more investment opportunities would be part of the Liberals and Nationals plan to grow the NSW economy and create more local jobs.
“India is the world’s fastest growing economy, and I want to strengthen the NSW-India relationship, so that our state is first in line to attract investment and unlock new export markets.”
“The former NSW Liberals and Nationals Government understood the importance of the NSW-India relationship to our economy and established trade and cultural arrangements in Gujarat with Narendra Modi and the Sister State Relationship with the Maharashtra Government”, added Sloane.
NSW Nationals Leader Gurmesh Singh said the Australia-India Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement, signed by the Federal Liberals and Nationals Government in 2022, had created new opportunities for regional NSW.
A future Liberal and Nationals Government would “turbocharge” those opportunities, he said.
“NSW farmers produce the best food and fibre in the world, and we want to back them to access the opportunities that India presents to grow exports and create more jobs in regional NSW,” Singh said.
He went on to say that after four years, the Minns Labor Government had failed to strengthen the NSW-India relationship and called on the Premier to match the Liberals and Nationals pledge.
The Liberals and Nationals highlighted several initiatives undertaken by their former NSW Government as part of their record on strengthening ties with India including:
- Successful trade missions led by Premiers Barry O’Farrell, Mike Baird and Dominic Perrottet.
- Established productive trade, research and cultural arrangements in Gujarat with then Chief Minister (now Prime Minister) Narendra Modi.
- Supported the former Federal Liberal and Nationals Government’s Australia-India Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement.
- Established a Sister State Relationship with the Maharashtra Government in 2012.
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