Indian envoy Gopal Bagley calls on Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong

Indian High Commissioner to Australia, Gopal Baglay on Monday called on the Australian Foreign Minister, Penny Wong and discussed a wide range of bilateral cooperation between India and Australia.

The Indian High Commission in Australia shared details of their meeting saying, “High Commissioner was honoured to call on Foreign Minister @SenatorWong Cordial and Substantive conversation on the entire range of matters in bilateral cooperation between India and Australia. The Comprehensive Strategic Partnership is set to touch new heights.”

On May 4, India and Australia held discussions under the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) negotiations between the two countries to review the progress made after nine rounds and the way forward for its completion to reach a balanced outcome.

Australia is an important trading partner of India in the Oceania region with merchandise trade between India and Australia reaching around 24 billion USD in 2023-24, signalling significant potential for further growth.

Earlier, the Australian High Commissioner to India, Philip Green said that he is looking forward to having more Indian students coming to Australia next year for their education.

The High Commissioner said that it is wrong to say that there’s been a surge in visa rejections of Indian students by Australian universities as reported by some media recently, and that they are giving a rethink to their higher education plans.

He stressed the fact that the statistics have been seen by himself, and underlined that ‘they are very similar this year to what they were last year’ and that ‘there hasn’t been a surge in rejection of students.

”There has not been a surge in rejection of students. I have looked at these statistics myself and they are very similar to this year to what they were last year. Unlike some other countries, Australia has not put a cap on the number of foreign students coming to our country. Yes, we want to make sure that students coming forward from reputable institutions will have a good experience in Australia,’ said Envoy Green during an interview with ANI.

“We make apologies for the fact that we want good students and we want to make sure that they are paired with the right courses. This is utterly wrong to say that there has been a surge in rejections; we look forward to as many or perhaps even more Indian students coming to Australia in the next year,” he added.

Lauding the cooperation between India and Australia in the field of Education and skill development, the High Commissioner hailed the Australian university’s foreign branch opening in India which marked the first time a foreign university opened its campus in India.