Excelsior Correspondent
NEW DELHI, Aug 26 : Ahead of the Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbot’s first official visit to India next week on September 4, the Australian High Commissioner in New Delhi, Patrick Suckling today called on Dr Jitendra Singh, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Science & Technology and Earth Sciences, MoS in Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Space & Atomic Energy, and discussed different issues likely to come up during the visit.
Dr Jitendra Singh told the High Commissioner that he was glad that some major announcements are scheduled during the Australian Prime Minister’s visit which include the Australian Government’s decision to extend the “Australia-India Strategic Research Fund” (AISRF) for four years from 2015-16 primarily for work in the field of Bio-technology as also Science and Technology.
Expressing satisfaction, Dr Jitendra Singh said this initiative will underline the Australia’s commitment to bilateral partnership between the two countries and will further strengthen to grow scientific and innovation collaboration between the two nations. This may further pave the way for participation in several other joint projects as well, he added.
Dr Jitendra Singh informed that so far, 46 joint projects and 9 bilateral workshops covering areas of aquaculture, biofuels, biomedical devises, bioremediation, transgenic crops, vaccines, stem cell research etc. have been jointly supported by the two countries.
He disclosed that the researchers from All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi and the Australian National Trauma Research Institute are already working together under “Australia-India Trauma Systems Collaboration Programme” and in this connection, the Prime Minister of Australia, Tony Abbot is also scheduled to visit the Truama Centre at AIIMS, New Delhi during his New Delhi visit next week.
Australian High Commissioner Patrick Suckling invited Dr Jitendra Singh to join Prime Minister Tony Abbot during his visit to the Trauma Centre at AIIMS and reaffirmed his country’s commitment to strengthen research partnership with India in the times to come.
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