India,Australia FMs underline importance of strong bonds,enduring shared interests (Part II)

October 13th, 2009 - 4:38 pm ICT by ANI  

(Cont.)

Mr Smith reiterated that the Australian Government and the governments of the Australian states are determined to address concerns about the safety and well-being of Indian students in Australia. Noting that Australia was a culturally diverse country. Mr Smith stressed that Australia had a zero tolerance approach towards violence and racial prejudice. People who had committed offences against Indian nationals would face the full force of the law. The Australian Government had introduced legislation to require all international education providers to re-register by the end of 2010 against strengthened criteria.
Mr Krishna welcomed these steps and stressed that India was fully committed to working with Australia to ensure that the education links that bind the two countries together were not compromised by poor quality education providers and unscrupulous education agents. Bilateral working groups discussed the issues of regulation of education agents, student welfare, vocational education and training, and quality assurance in Delhi on 6-7 October.

Cooperation in science and education constitutes one of the most dynamic parts of the Australia-India relationship, with collaborative projects such as the IIT-Bombay Monash University Academy underlining the great capacity for scientific cooperation. The two countries are creating a broad and strong knowledge partnership.

Australia’s Endeavour Awards and Australian Leadership Awards are playing an important role in strengthening knowledge links between the two countries.

The India - Australia relationship is underpinned by diverse and expanding people-to-people links. The Indian community in Australia now numbers 250,000 people and is making a valuable contribution to building Australian society and to enhancing bilateral links. Sport has long been a strong bond between India and Australia.

Mr Smith said Australia was looking forward to participating in the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games. (ANI)

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