NEW DELHI: Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, has invited Australian Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese to watch a cricket test match in Gujarat in March. This will be during the course of Albanese’s official visit to India with a large trade delegation.
"I will be there (India) with Narendra Modi who has invited us to the fourth test in his home state of Gujarat," Albanese said a few days back at a reception in Sydney’s Kirribilli House.
"We'll be taking our Australian business delegation over as well about how we can expand the economic opportunities for Australia in India. That is one of the things about cricket is that it brings people together across different cultures, and across different societies, and it helps to build global harmony. That is so important as well, and I'm looking forward to that,” he added.
In March the Australian team will visit India to play their fourth test against the Indian team in Ahmedabad, Gujarat.
Albanese is expected to be in Delhi around the beginning of the second week of March with a large trade delegation. This will be Albanese’s first visit to India after he took charge in May 2022 and also after the implementation of the Economic and Trade Agreement (ECTA) between the two nations which came into effect in the end of December last year.
Albanese will visit India again in September for the G20 Summit and has spoken about PM Modi visiting Australia later this year for the Quad Summit.
The ECTA is expected to double trade between the two nations to touch $50 billion. The agreement came into effect on December 29th, 2022.
India is expected to benefit from preferential market access provided by Australia on 100 per cent of its tariff lines, including labour-intensive sectors like gems and jewellery, textiles, leather, footwear and furniture amongst other things.
India will be offering preferential access to Australia on over 70 per cent of its tariff lines which include raw materials and intermediaries like coal, mineral ores and wines.