India and Australia agree to enhance collaborative research on Climate Change

India and Australia on Friday agreed to enhance collaborative research in the fields of climate change, water conservation, soil science, space research, among other areas, the HRD Ministry said. This was discussed in a meeting between Union Minister for Human Resource Development Ramesh Pokhriyal and an Australian delegation led by country's Education Minister Dan Tehan. 

India and Australia to have collaborative research

"I would like to congratulate the Australian side for having a productive meeting and I am looking forward for continuous cooperation in the field of education in future as well," the minister said after the meeting. 

54 joint projects initiated

Pokhriyal said that as many as 54 joint projects from Australian and Indian institutions have been initiated in less than a year since the launch of Scheme for Promotion of Academic Research & Collaboration (SPARC). The Minister also said they have started a short term India-centric courses related to Yoga, Ayurveda, Naturopathy, etc and hoped for Australia's participation. The SPARC is a scheme initiated by the ministry for improving the quality of higher education by way of internationalisation of higher education.

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'I can understand India’s caution about RCEP'

Earlier, former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said 'I can understand India’s caution about RCEP.' "While I’m all in favour of generous assistance to countries in difficulties, I am very wary of anything that might end up leaving vulnerable countries permanently indebted to another,” he added. Let’s ensure that in the years to come there is at least as much Australian focus on the relationship with India as there was in that 30-year period on the relationship with China," the former Australian Prime Minister said.

India and Australia also share political, economic, security, lingual and sporting ties. In the year 2015-16, the total value of trade between Australia and India was A$19.4 billion. 

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