A New Consulate-General and a Centre of Excellence in India announced as PM Morrison speaks at Bengaluru Tech Summit

Australia is strengthening technology partnership with India through the establishment of a new Consulate-General in Bengaluru and a Centre of Excellence for Critical and Emerging Technology Policy, also to be based in India. Prime Minister Scott Morrison speaking at the Bengaluru Tech Summit highlighted the measures bringing the two countries technologically together and much closer.

Bengaluru is the world’s fourth-largest technology cluster, and home to a third of India’s unicorn companies. Bengaluru and its vibrant business community will play a determinative role in India’s rise as a technological superpower. It is home to significant biotech, aerospace and defence industries, a thriving start-up ecosystem, India’s national space agency as well as leading education and research institutions.

The new Consulate-General will focus on deepening Australia’s ties to India’s vibrant innovators, technologists and entrepreneurs. It will support Australian businesses in one of the world’s most important commercial centres. Half of the next billion internet users are projected to be in India, and India’s digital economy, centred on Bengaluru, is set to grow to US$1 trillion by 2025.

The Consulate-General will expand our diplomatic presence in India to five diplomatic posts, further to our High Commission in New Delhi and Consulates-General in Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata, deepening our engagement with Indian governments at all levels. This will promote engagement with India’s southern states and our outreach to Australia’s diaspora and alumni communities.

Also read: Scott Morrison on Webex webinar with the Indian ethnic media

Speaking at the Bengaluru Tech Summit, participating virtually, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said,

“Our countries share a deep friendship — mateship as we say in Australia, or as you say, maitri.

“Australia and India are diverse, multicultural, liberal democracies who seek a world that is prosperous, safe and secure, and where  human dignity is best expressed through choice and freedom.

“We seek to lift up, not suppress.

“To build a better world, rather than to hold back change.

“Our vision of the world understands the potential of technology to respond to the challenges of our time — and to lift all — to raise those living standards.”

Through our Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, India and Australia are at the forefront of determining the design, development and use of emerging technologies. Our existing Cyber and Critical Technology Partnership and its bilateral grants program were a significant first step in strengthening these ties.

“Together, we’re working to bolster supply chain security, advance the deployment of secure 5G and beyond-5G networks, to combat cyber threats, and secure our critical infrastructure, and much more”, Prime Minister Morrison added.

The Centre of Excellence for Critical and Emerging Technology Policy will bring together Australian and Indian technologists, policy practitioners, academics, researchers and thought leaders. It is a multi-stakeholder initiative that will help guide the responsible development and use of critical technologies.

It will promote stronger investment opportunities and cutting-edge innovation in cyber, critical and emerging technologies. It will amplify Australia’s and India’s policy impact globally, while visiting fellows from around the Indo-Pacific will broaden the Centre’s influence.

The Centre of Excellence is among the flagship initiatives of Australia’s new Action Plan for Critical Technologies, and an important part of delivering on Australia’s strategy for protecting and promoting technologies, the Blueprint for Critical Technologies. It will provide a practical platform for Australia and India to work together to shape technology governance that aligns with our values and supports an open, inclusive and resilient Indo-Pacific.

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