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New South Wales Premier Chris Minns on Monday said the state sees a "massive opportunity" to deepen its economic relationship with India, particularly in the critical minerals sector, and highlighted the complementarity between its mineral resources and India's National Critical Mineral Mission 2030.
Speaking during his visit to New Delhi, Minns said New South Wales, Australia's largest state by population and home to around one-third of the country's population, has significant strengths in technology, biomedicine and education, while also being a global leader in mining. "We see this as a massive opportunity for our state, New South Wales," Minns said, adding that there is already a "good, strong relationship" between the Indian mining sector and firms in New South Wales. He noted that several engineers trained in New South Wales have gone on to work with Indian firms, describing the existing links between the two sides as an important foundation for deeper economic cooperation. Minns said New South Wales sees significant scope for collaboration with India under the National Critical Mineral Mission 2030, particularly given the state's reserves and exploration potential in critical minerals. "We think there's great complementarity between India, particularly as it relates to the National Critical Mineral Mission 2030, and the minerals that we have in New South Wales," he said. He highlighted opportunities in copper, cobalt, rare earths, scandium and silver, besides existing metallurgical coal deposits, saying Indian companies could participate either as customers or investors in the NSW economy. The NSW Premier said India's position as the "fastest-growing large economy in the world" creates significant opportunities for cooperation in critical mineral projects. "We want to see Indian industry meet its full potential, potentially using some of the great advantages that we have here in New South Wales," Minns said. He stressed that the NSW government was ready to provide support and guidance at the government level to strengthen the economic relationship with India. "To the extent that the relationship needs support and guidance from the New South Wales government from a government level, that's why we're here, and we want to see the relationship, the economic relationship, meet its full potential," he said. Minns also said the presence of Indian companies in New South Wales provided a strong foundation for expanding bilateral economic ties, but added that the relationship needed to become "deeper and stronger" in line with India's projected economic growth. The Premier also thanked his Indian hosts for the warm welcome in New Delhi and said he was honoured by the senior-level participation in the discussions. (ANI)
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