The growing relationship Australia has with India has been bolstered overnight following the agreement between the two nations on a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.

“An agreement of this nature underpins so much potential in a relationship between nations such as Australia and India, and congratulations is due to both Prime Minister Morrison and Prime Minister Modi,” said CEO of Standards Australia, Adrian O’Connell. “While there were some priority areas of engagement identified by the leaders of both nations, the commitment shown to making this type of agreement has no limit on its potential benefits.”

Areas covered by this partnership agreement cover research, cyber security, infrastructure, trade, education, logistics, defence science, and Indo-Pacific maritime issues.

“Standards Australia has been involved in the similar Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement recently signed with Indonesia, (IA-CEPA) and has contributed to opening up trade between the two nations,” said Mr O’Connell. “In our early work on the IA-CEPA, we worked with our Indonesian counterparts to identify harmonised standards between our two economies as a means of enabling avenues of trade.”

“We are excited by the prospect of repeating the success found between Australia and Indonesia with a country of growing trade opportunities like India. Australia has a proud history as a trading nation, and with partnerships like this being delivered by the Prime Minister we have a strong future also,” concluded Mr O’Connell.