India repatriated 4500 Indians from Sydney itself while overall from Australia, 11,000 Indian nationals were brought back. Speaking to our Diplomatic Correspondent Sidhant Sibal from Sydney, India's consul general Manish Gupta said, "Diaspora has an important role in connecting the 2 countries together" and "during the last decade itself, diaspora number has doubled." Ties between India and Australia have grown and earlier this year both Indian PM and Australian PM had a virtual summit.
India repatriated 4500 Indians from Sydney itself while overall from Australia, 11,000 Indian nationals were brought back. Speaking to our Diplomatic Correspondent Sidhant Sibal from Sydney, India's consul general Manish Gupta said, "Diaspora has an important role in connecting the 2 countries together" and "during the last decade itself, diaspora number has doubled." Ties between India and Australia have grown and earlier this year both Indian PM and Australian PM had a virtual summit.
Sidhant Sibal: How do you see the ties between India and Australia?
Manish Gupta: India and Australia's mutual relationship is bound for a major rebound. Very recently, leaders of both countries had a virtual summit. Commerce, culture, people-to-people ties, high-level political ties, the relationship encompasses all spheres. In short, as we move forward we will see much stronger engagement between our two countries.
How has the repatriation mission from Australia been?
These are very challenging times, everywhere in the world including here in Australia. Thanks to the 'Vande Bharat' mission, we have been able to set up a structured framework for repatriation of stranded Indians during the last 3 months. I'm happy to report that in Sydney alone, we were able to repatriate 4500 Indians under the 'Vande Bharat' mission, and overall in Australia, nearly 11,000 Indian nationals have been repatriated. The process has been going on smoothly and we have been able to reduce the load by a sizeable amount and with the regularization of Vande Bharat flights, with higher frequency as well as the chartered flights, the situation is much more under control now and there are very few cases left
What is the role played by the diaspora in the relationship?
Diaspora has an important role in connecting the 2 countries together. During the last decade itself, the diaspora number has doubled. Many of them are working in the professional sector, some are in business. We have a highly accomplished and very energetic diaspora. Indian IT sector is well represented here in Sydney and Melbourne. Overall linages are vital to connecting the two countries, not only do they bring people together but also bring awareness. Government flagship programmes like 'Make in India' and 'Namami Gange' are very well received over here.
On Independence day, Australian and Indian artists came together for a joint collaboration called 'Sur Sagar', is this a stepping stone to larger people-to-people ties?
The tremendous collaboration and respect for each other between Indians and Australians. Australia is a country that respects diversity, and ties are going strength to strength and current piece of music has been prepared in a record period of time--with artists from Australia and India have come together to release Sur Sagar in a sense, its a celebration of diversity, democratic values and celebration of music and that what brings 2 countries together and that is, in fact, our cultural center here in Sydney has been doing an amazing job. In the last five years since the Swami Vivekanand Cultural Center has become operational here, our cultural linkages have further strengthened and not only Yoga and Ayurveda but arts, culture, performing arts have been the focus. Happy to say that in New South Wales they can learn Hindi, Punjabi, and Tamil, and cultural center plays an important role.
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 "India, Australia, Consul, Sydney, Vande Bharat, coronavirus, novel coronavirus, COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2")
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