Australia expects India to shine at G20 meet

NEW DELHI: Australia, the host country for the upcoming G-20 Summit, expects India to “shine” and Prime Minister Narendra Modi to make a “terrific contribution” to the twoday meeting of this grouping of top world economies in Brisbane from November 15. “From our perspective, we think that PM Modi will make a terrific contribution to the G-20. We think India will shine at G-20,” Australian High Commissioner Patrick Suckling said on Wednesday.

“We feel that Mr Modi’s domestic agenda is exactly the sort of agenda which G-20 is prioritising...which is domestic economic reforms, ease of doing business and a big focus on infrastructure,” he told the media. The important agenda of the G-20, he said, includes raising global growth by an additional 2% in the next five years, promoting investment in infrastructure sector, boosting global trade and dealing with taxation issues concerning Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS).

Besides Modi, the meeting will be attended by US President Barack Obama and other world leaders.Modi is also scheduled to address Australian Parliament. “This is historic visit for us...it will be first address to the joint session of Parliament by Indian leader ever...That will come a day after Chinese President Xi Jinping’s address to the Australian Parliament. So that will be in itself fascinating,” Suckling said.

The PM will interact with the members of the Indian community at Brisbane, Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne during his four-day visit.Elaborating on the G-20 agenda for Brisbane, Suckling said 900 reform measures have been put forth by the members of the grouping and their implementation would help in achieving target for global GDP growth.The growth will be driven by private sector investment and special focus will be on infrastructure, he said.