Western Australia keen on strengthening ties with TN

CHENNAI: Keen on onboarding nurses and paramedics from India, its 10th largest trading partner, Western Australia is also interested in making investments in electric vehicle (EV) battery manufacturing, hospitality and other sectors, said its deputy premier Rita Saffioti, leading a delegation-led mission, on Thursday.

India is a key market for Western Australia with $4.1 billion of goods traded in 2022-23, and an important inbound tourism market.

In the year ending September 2023, India ranked as Western Australia’s 7th largest international market, with 27,000 visitors contributing an estimated $91 million to the state’s economy. The mission capitalised on this momentum, further boosting tourism and trade between the two nations.

Western Australia’s deputy premier, treasurer, and minister for transport and tourism, Rita Saffioti, concluded the mission in Delhi and Chennai, where meetings with key aviation stakeholders, senior government representatives, and business, were held.

The purpose was to highlight trade linkages with TN and to further investment, joint ventures, and collaboration opportunities.

Currently, Western Australia and TN share comparable economies of more $400 billion with similar diversification agendas in sectors such as education and skills, defence, space, health and medical life sciences, tourism and creative industries, mining and mining equipment, technology services and energy. The Western Australian government has funded 5 innovation hubs focused on cybersecurity; data science, medtech, creative tech and green tech.

Similarly, TN’s vision is to become a trillion-dollar economy by 2030, with a strong focus on innovation and entrepreneurship. Invest and Trade Western Australia was the only state partner for the recent 2024 Global Investor Meet in TN. In Chennai, Saffioti continued her mission with bilateral engagements through meetings with the minister for youth welfare and sports development and minister for IT & digital services, and the ITWA networking reception.

Speaking to the media here, Saffioti said there is a strong demand for nurses and other paramedical staff in Western Australia. According to her, there is also a huge opportunity in the tourism sector as its beaches are unique.

Saffioti said there is a need for a large number of hotels, and a direct link between India and Perth in Western Australia. On how Western Australia will attract Indian tourists given their recent negative sentiments against the Maldives, Saffioti, evading the contentious issue, said talks with the Indian travel organisers revealed lack of information about her region.

Saffioti said action to correct the problem would be taken to enable Indian travel players to have adequate information about the tourism opportunities. During her visit, Saffioti also met officials of Indian airlines to explore the possibility of having a direct flight to Perth from Chennai.

As regards the EV battery manufacturing, she said Western Australia has huge mineral reserves needed for making the EV batteries and is seeking investments in that sector.

According to officials, a Chennai-based company will be inking an MoU with a Western Australian company in making vanadium redox flow battery.