CANBERRA, July 31 (Xinhua) -- Australia is striving to improve its "underdone" two-way trade relationship with India, Trade Minister Steve Ciobo said on Tuesday.
In a keynote address on the future of trade opportunities, Australia's Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment Ciobo said there were huge opportunities to develop a relationship with India and establish deep economic ties.
"Our economic relationship with India is underdone. It is very much in our interests to fix this," he told the Committee for Economic Development of Australia (CEDA) event on Tuesday.
He identified the Indian state of Maharashtra, home to Mumbai, as a particularly promising region for investment.
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) has prepared a report on how to make better use of trade links with India, and Ciobo said the Indian authorities would soon compile a similar document.
"Maharashtra offers diverse opportunities for Australian firms in education and training, urban infrastructure, financial services, agribusiness and energy sectors," he said.
"We have a huge asset for our relations with India in our Indian diaspora -- our fastest growing large diaspora," he added.
Ciobo went on to praise the government's free-trade agenda, saying Australia had not "succumbed to the siren song of protectionism" sweeping global politics.
He said when ongoing free trade negotiations were concluded, more than 88 percent of Australia's two-way trade would be covered by binding free-trade agreements (FTAs).
"The government has concluded or is undertaking free-trade talks with countries accounting for more than 55 trillion Australian dollars (40.8 trillion U.S. dollars) in combined Gross Domestic Product (GDP)," the minister said.