India wants to partner with Australia across the full spectrum of the critical minerals supply chain, from digging up resources here through to production of solar panels and batteries, New Delhi’s local envoy said ahead of a visit by India’s foreign minister this week.
In an interview with The Australian Financial Review, High Commissioner Manpreet Vohra also expressed appreciation for Australia recognising India’s position in respect to the Russian-Ukraine war after Narendra Modi’s government has been criticised for not condemning Vladimir Putin.
External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar was due to arrive in Australia late on Sunday night, his second trip to Australia this year after attending the Quad foreign ministers meeting in February.
Dr Jaishankar and Australian counterpart Penny Wong will hold the 13th round of bilateral foreign ministers’ dialogue in Canberra on Monday. He will also meet Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Richard Marles and Education Minister Jason Clare.
“It is very heartening to see the very stout, bipartisan support in Australia, as it is in India, for the India-Australia relationship,” Mr Vohra said.
Following the pattern of other recent visits by foreign and trade ministers to Australia, Mr Vohra confirmed discussions would include Australia as a supplier of critical minerals, as countries look for an alternative to China’s stranglehold on the global market.
But India wanted to be more than just a customer for raw materials.
“Critical minerals is critical for Australia, for India, for future energy security,” he said.
“We have one of the largest battery storage needs on the planet because we’re adding several gigawatts of solar and wind power every year ... critical minerals is important for that whole battery ecosystem.
“We’re hoping very much that supply chain can be jointly created end-to-end by Australian and Indian companies working together in partnerships, in joint ventures perhaps.
“We do have a MoU between us ... it’s a modest agreement, $6 million, but that’s for the initial scoping part of it. Subsequently, when actual assets are identified, we hope very much there will be considerable investment from both sides.
“We would be very happy if Australia in partnership with us could move up the value chain and more processing happens in Australia, and therefore Australia gets much more per tonne of ore.”
As the Financial Review revealed on Friday, major American car manufacturers have also been in discussions with Australian government officials about co-investing in critical mineral processing here.
Green hydrogen
Companies such as Tesla, Ford, GM and Toyota want to hasten the development of critical minerals production in Australia so they can line up sufficient supply of materials such as lithium and cobalt, which are essential for electric vehicles.
Mr Vohra said Indian firms had begun investing heavily in green hydrogen as a key source of clean energy for the future and hoped in coming months there would be “substantial” new Indian investment in Australia to support this drive.
Mr Vohra said one of Dr Jaishankar’s key messages would be to encourage Australian businesses to build economic ties with India.
“The stock market in India is doing extremely well and I hope very much that Australian super funds can get a little out of their traditional comfort zone of being satisfied with relatively lower returns on what they invest because the Indian market provides much higher and very stable returns,” Mr Vohra said.
“European countries, North America, the Middle East, they are really on the Indian growth story and benefiting from it – Australian businesses not so much.”
While the Morrison government negotiated an interim free trade agreement with India this year, Mr Vohra said it was hoped talks on the final version would start soon.
They were meant to get under way last month when Trade Minister Don Farrell was due to visit India but the trip was postponed after parliament was rescheduled following Queen Elizabeth II’s death.
Australia and India have boosted ties in recent years, both bilaterally and through the Quadrilateral Strategic Dialogue, amid shared concern over China’s assertiveness.
Canberra, with other friendly countries, has been urged to use its influence to push New Delhi to take a harder line condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. India has a long-standing relationship as a customer of Russian arms and has taken advantage of Western sanctions to buy discounted Russian oil.
India abstained from supporting a United Nations Security Council draft resolution condemning Russia’s annexation of Ukrainian territories 10 days ago, although Mr Modi last month publicly chided Mr Putin that now was “not a time for war”.
Mr Vohra said the “so-called criticism” of India was being led by sections of the media.
“You have not seen governments criticise India,” he said. “The reason for that is we are today such close friends and partners they understand us completely. They understand what we are saying, how we are saying it. Certainly, the Australian government is one of the friends who understand our position completely.”
(20min delay)