New Delhi: Minister of State (MoS) for Commerce & Industry Anupriya Patel has stressed the need for an early amendment of the regulation pertaining to the ‘Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement’ (DTAA) to stop the taxation on the offshore income of Indian firms providing technical support.
Patel held a meeting with the visiting Deputy Premier of Western Australia, Roger Cook in New Delhi today, in which she emphasized that the amendment of DTAA regulation is a very important issue that was agreed upon under the Ind-Aus ECTA (India Australia Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement).
On the concerns related to delay in issuance of visas for Indian students, the Australian side agreed to look into the ways to facilitate early processing and issuance of visas for Indian students pursuing higher studies in Australia and similarly for the tourists.
The two sides also exchanged views on significant opportunities to strengthen the cooperation between India with Western Australia on a range of issues pertaining to various sectors including education, critical minerals, agriculture, energy, tourism, mining technology, etc.
Patel said that the bilateral relations between India and Australia have undergone transformative evolution in recent years and there is enormous scope for cooperation in various fields and improving the existing level of bilateral trade and investment.
Both sides acknowledged the need to expedite the ratification processes for early Entry into Force of the Ind-Aus ECTA for the mutual benefit of both the economies, in particular, the businesses. Discussions also explored market access issues relating to certain commodities such as potato, okra, gherkins, pineapple, onion, etc, in the Australian market and also on possible technical collaboration for increasing yield for agricultural products in India.
The two leaders emphasized outcome-oriented actions leading to gains for citizens of both countries, in particular, each other’s businesses. They deliberated on various important avenues of cooperation and target-oriented actions in specific sectors.
Both the countries laid emphasis on complementary schemes and expertise available to them to develop new avenues by leveraging Western Australian expertise in areas like agri-tech, water management, energy efficiency, and renewables as well as Indian expertise in commodity analytics, information technology, mobile applications, etc. Further, both sides agreed to work towards having extensive engagement in activities relating to legal mineral mining, extending technical cooperation and expertise sharing, and working towards a smooth resilient supply chain.
Indian and Australian sides noted that there are significant opportunities that exist to strengthen cooperation in sectors like critical mining, education, agriculture, mining, and mining equipment, technology sectors, energy, tourism, etc. and there is a need to work together for the result-oriented outcome.
(Vinayak)