Following the signing of a Letter of Intent (LoI) in March 2023, the Western Australia and Tamil Nadu partnership has gone from strength to strength. Illustrating the continued growth of this relationship, the Honorable Minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan, Minister for Information Technology and Digital Services in Tamil Nadu, led a four-member delegation to Perth from 26 June to 30 June 2023.

Their visit included attending the Australia India Chamber of Commerce (AICC) National Conference, engaging with senior government and industry leaders and site visits to science and innovation hubs in Perth.

Nashid Chowdhury, the Invest and Trade Commissioner for WA in India-Gulf, Cleona James, Director of Investment and Trade in Mumbai, and Vikram Walia, Business Development Manager in Chennai, were also in Perth for the AICC National Conference and to accompany the Minister and his delegation for all the activities.

A highlight of the visit was Minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan’s delivery of a keynote speech at the AICC National Conference on behalf of the Tamil Nadu Government, emphasising their commitment to fostering stronger ties with WA.

Whilst in Perth, the Minister and his delegation met with WA Premier, the Hon. Roger Cook MLA, the Hon. Stephen Dawson MLC, the Hon. David Templeman MLA, the Hon. Paul Papalia CLC MLA, the Presiding Officers of WA Parliament Delegation, and Dr. Jagadish Krishna MLA.

As part of their program, the Hon. Minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan co-chaired a WA-Tamil Nadu roundtable with Dr. Jagadish Krishna MLA and Nashid Chowdhury, where WA stakeholders provided updates on partnerships formed in Tamil Nadu during and after the Invest and Trade Western Australia Trade Mission to India in July 2022. Topics of discussions included future opportunities to collaborate across the WA priority sectors of education, energy, mining and METS, space and innovation, defence, agriculture, health, and medical life sciences.

The Tamil Nadu delegation also visited the City of Joondalup and the state-of-the-art Pawsey Supercomputing Centre, further enhancing their understanding of Western Australia's technological innovation.

 For more information on business opportunities in India, Western Australian businesses can reach out to the team at investandtrade@jtsi.wa.gov.au.

Published on: 06 July 2023