Australia’s Trade, Tourism and Investment Minister Steven Ciobo on Wednesday said the Adani Group’s planned multibillion dollar coal mining project was moving forward, but was taking “much longer than the [Australian] government would have liked.”
‘Process’ compliance
“It is certainly moving forward... There have been aspects of that investment that have taken much longer than I would have liked or the government would have liked. That is the statement of fact, but there is a process to be followed,” Mr. Ciobo told reporters.
Asked whether the Australian government was looking to extend financing support to the Adani Group for the mining project through its Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility (NAIF), the minister said there was a separate body looking into it.
As per the Australian government, the NAIF “offers up to $5 billion over five years in concessional finance to encourage and complement private sector investment in infrastructure that benefits Northern Australia.” Mr. Ciobo is in India leading a delegation of more than 170 businesspersons from Australia to take part in the Australia Business Week in India.
Asked about the delay regarding the India-Australia Free Trade Agreement (officially called Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement), Mr. Ciobo said “trade negotiations are always challenging”. He said both the sides “are committed for constructive discussions to produce a high quality deal,” adding, however, that “We have really strong trade and investment ties despite not having an FTA in place. But I am confident that if we can put in place a good quality deal, that will help further in solidifying the relationship.” However, dates have not yet been fixed for the next round of negotiations. The FTA talks started in 2011 and so far nine rounds of negotiations have been held. Earlier, speaking at an event on Tuesday, Mr. Ciobo said, “Our future relationship could benefit from deeper commercial linkages between Indian and Australian mining services.” He said Australia’s world-class mining equipment, technology and services providers -- or METS providers -- are well-placed to support India in meeting its ambitious mining targets, mine safety concerns and ‘24x7 Power for All’ agenda. “Australia has world-leading expertise right across the mining supply chain -- from exploration, and engineering, processing to environmental planning and mine safety. I welcome many from this sector who have travelled from Australia this week — and I encourage lots of collaboration on future challenges,” he said.