Trade talks between Advance Cairns, FKCCI and Cairns Chamber of Commerce
A joint trade mission to India could be on the cards for Advance Cairns and the Cairns Chamber of Commerce following a roundtable meeting with a delegation of Indian chamber of commerce representatives last week.
The president of the Federation of Karnataka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FKCCI) in Bangalore extended an invitation to Advance Cairns and the Cairns Chamber of Commerce to “plan a visit to India.”
FKCCI president D. Muralidhar, who led the nine-member delegation, implored the two groups to consider an “exploratory visit” to India to capitalise on the consistent growth of the region. Mr Muralidhar said there was “a tremendous amount of scope to expand our business relationships”, particularly given the strength of India’s economy across a range of industries including manufacturing, avionics, health and information technology in particular.
Mr Muralidhar said India was currently the world’s second largest producer of fruit and vegetables, but with most of it consumed within India, there were plenty of opportunities for export.
He said there were some obvious commonalities that would make partnering in business easier. “Part of why it is easy for our countries to do business is the fact that there is no language barrier,” he said before adding, “We even drive on the same side of the road as you, and we share the same passion for cricket”, he joked.
Cairns Chamber of Commerce President, Jeremy Blockey said the chamber would explore the possibility of signing an MOU with the FKCCI, which could lead to further investigation of a visit with Advance Cairns and the chamber to India in the future.
Advance Cairns CEO Ross Contarino said there were some obvious synergies between Tropical North Queensland and India which could lend themselves to a positive and productive relationship between the two regions.
“The North’s unique tropical expertise in a variety of industry sectors were of interest to the delegation, particularly in the area of wine making,” Mr Contarino explained.
“India is a large producer of mangoes, and their discovery of our mango wine industry during their visit to the North proved of particular interest as a way of diversifying and value-adding to their already sizeable mango industry.”
Hosted by Mr Contarino, the meeting was also attended by Cairns Chamber of Commerce Executive Officer Sandy White, Cairns Regional Council Councillor Alan Blake, Advance Cairns director Ron Tong, and Cummings Economics partner Bill Cummings.
The meeting, facilitated by Advance Cairns following an approach by Trade Queensland, formed part of a series of engagements for the 42-member delegation that included meetings on the Gold Coast and in Ipswich.
