Western Australia and Tamil Nadu relations continue to strengthen with a recent visit to Perth by the Hon Minister Dr Palanivel Thiaga Rajan, Minister for Finance and Human Resource Management in Tamil Nadu. 

From 27 October to 1 November, the Hon Minister led a 3-member delegation to Perth to meet with senior leaders of Government and industry. 

Nashid Chowdhury, Investment and Trade Commissioner for WA in India-Gulf, accompanied the Minister for all his meetings. 

In Perth, the Minister and his delegation were hosted by WA Deputy Premier, the Hon. Roger Cook MLA, the Hon Stephen Dawson MLC, and Dr Jagadish Krishna MLA, at several networking functions for Western Australian businesses and the Tamil Nadu community. The Hon. Dr Rajan also attended the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup match between India and South Africa at Optus stadium.

 The Tamil Nadu delegation visited the facilities of Ultra Power Systems (a proponent of the Future Batteries Industries CRC) and Western Rock Lobster, toured the Cities of Swan and Joondalup, met with the Department of Treasury, WA Treasury Corporation, Woodside and Fortescue Future Industries and attended the Perth USAsia Roundtable to discuss the synergies between Tamil Nadu and Western Australia.

The Hon. Dr Rajan also had the opportunity to join the Deputy Premier in the Pilbara for Fortescue Metals Group Ltd’s first magnetite ore-feed into its processing plant at Iron Bridge. 

 Tamil Nadu is India’s second largest economy with a population of almost 84 million. It is India’s largest source of software exports, a major importer of Australian grains and pulses, and a leading solar and energy producer.

 Western Australia and Tamil Nadu have established strong industry connections across the new energy, space and aquaculture sectors. This includes contracts signed between companies from both regions, including Ultra Power and Hild Energy, Space Angels and Skyroot Aerospace, and the CCIWA and the Seafood Exporters Association of India (Tamil Nadu). 

 The two regions also enjoy strong education linkages between Curtin University and Edith Cowan University with the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras.

 The Hon. Dr Rajan was invited to WA by Deputy Premier Cook during the Invest and Trade WA mission to India in July 2022.

 This visit builds on the momentum of the WA-India bilateral relationship and provided an important platform to explore new opportunities to strengthen cooperation between Western Australia and Tamil Nadu.

 If you are a Western Australian business interested in further information regarding opportunities in India, please contact Invest and Trade WA via investandtrade@jtsi.wa.gov.au

Published on: 10 November 2022