DPC travel outcomes report: Jacinta Allan's 2024 travel to India

Travel details

Expenses

Includes combined expenses for Minister and accompanying travellers.

Purpose of travel

From 15-20 September 2024, I visited Delhi, India as my first official international travel as Premier of Victoria.

I travelled to promote closer and stronger education, trade, tourism, and creative industry ties with a key regional and strategic partner.

Travel also provided an opportunity to share Victoria's India Strategy: Our Shared Future with key organisations and stakeholders in-country, helping to immediately kickstart Victoria's approach to engagement with India for the next five years to 2030.

Benefits of travel to the State of Victoria

As the first Victorian Premier to visit India since 2018, my program consisted primarily of meetings with industry and government stakeholders to strengthen and promote mutually beneficial engagement between Victoria and India.

More specific benefits of the trip to Victoria include:

• Highlighting Victoria's refreshed India Strategy: Our Shared Future 2025-30, which was launched at a Victoria Connect event with hundreds of key stakeholders.
• Supporting the growth of Victoria's international education sector, and promoting stronger bilateral engagement through education, noting India is the largest source market for international students in Victoria. This included:
  • Announcing the creation of the A$5 million Yes to International Students Fund which will deliver targeted seed funding to Victorian universities and TAFEs to start and grow partnerships to deliver education overseas, and that Victoria will reserve a quarter of its regional skilled work visas for international students, to encourage them to live and work in regional Victoria upon completion of their study.
  • Participation in and promotion of the launch of the University of Melbourne's Global Centre in Delhi.
  • Attended and participation in the DIDAC 2024 Conference alongside a delegation of senior Victorian education representatives to promote Victorian education and EdTech offerings.
  • Meeting with International Automobile Centre of Excellence (iACE) and Bendigo Kangan Institute to discuss transnational cooperation in vocational education.
  • Meeting with representatives from the Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS) Pilani, and witnessing the expansion of their partnership with RMIT University to include a new joint incubator and business accelerator, and establishment of a BITS Pilani campus in Goa, India.
  • Witnessing the signing of the La Trobe University and Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC) Letter of Intent to establish a Biotechnology Innovation Exchange Corridor between India and Victoria.
• Supporting greater trade and investment outcomes between Victoria and India. This included:
  • Meeting with the Indian Minister for Sport and Youth Affairs, including a commitment to expanding Victoria­-India collaboration in sports management and SportsTech, including offering Victorian expertise to support India's prospective bid to host the 2036 Olympic Games.
  • Meeting with and finalising the establishment of Firstsource's Australia and New Zealand headquarters in Victoria, and their intention to establish an Artificial Intelligence and Customer Experience and Innovation Lab in Melbourne.
  • Meeting with and finalising the expansion of Sonata's operations in Victoria to include a Centre of Excellence for retail and advanced manufacturing.
  • Meeting with HCLTech to discuss opportunities for expanding their Victorian operations, including their footprint in the EdTech sector and the potential to establish a skills pipeline with Victorian education institutions, a training centre, and an Internet of Things (IOT) lab in Victoria.
• Stronger cultural and visitor economy ties. This included:
  • Meeting with the Pro Kabaddi League to progress a Kabaddi exhibition event in Victoria.
  • Meeting with Cricket Australia and in country partners to promote the upcoming Summer of Cricket and Boxing Day Test and to showcase Victoria's culinary expertise and major events calendar.
  • Attendance at the Indian premiere of 'My Melbourne', an anthology film developed through Victoria-India collaboration, to showcase Victoria's strengths as a creative partner and to highlight our diverse communities to an Indian audience.
  • Meeting with Air India to promote increased aviation links to Victoria.

My visit also included:

• A meeting with the Australian High Commissioner to India, His Excellency Mr Philip Green OAM.
• Attendance at the Australia India Women's Leadership Forum, a gathering of women business leaders from Australia, Victoria and India to strengthen connections, share insights, and provide a platform for mentorship.
• Delivery of the Australia India lnstitute's 2024 Annual Oration, emphasising the strengths and successes of the Victoria-India relationship.
• A visit to Bhartiya Vidya Bhavan School to promote cross-cultural understanding through education, including meeting with the school principal, a former participant in the Victorian Government's Women in School Leadership (WISL) program, which enables professional learning for female principals in Victoria and India through exchange opportunities.
• Visits to the UNESCO World Heritage Sites Qutb Minar and Quwwat-ul-lslam Mosque, the Laxmi Narayan Mandir Hindu temple, and the Gurdwara Bangla Sahib Sikh temple, reflecting Victoria's diverse Indian diaspora.

Next Steps/Follow Up

Since the conclusion of my official travel, an implementation plan for the refreshed India Strategy is being developed to leverage outcomes achieved. A number of activities have already been completed while others will continue to be progressed.

During my travel, I announced the A$5 million Yes to International Students Fund. Victorian Government departments consulted with key stakeholders on the scope and design of the Fund, with further details announced in the Economic Growth Statement in late 2024.

During my travel, I also announced that the Victorian Government will allocate a quarter of its Skilled Work Regional Visas for international students. Applications will remain open until places are filled.

On 23 October 2024, I met with India's Minister of Education, the Honourable Shri Dharmendra Pradhan, during his visit to Victoria, alongside the Commonwealth Minister for Education, Jason Clare MP. We discussed the strengthening of education ties between Victoria, Australia and India, and priority areas for collaboration.

On 11 November 2024, I announced that a Kabaddi exhibition event, Pro Kabaddi Melbourne Raid, will be held at John Cain Arena on 28 December 2024, after day three of the Boxing Day Test between Australia and India at the MCG.

Victoria's sporting events calendar provides the perfect anchor for a broad range of industry events and forums. A number of events centred around the Boxing Day Test and Summer of Cricket have been expanded to leverage the connections created through my official travel. Utilising the profile of the Summer of Cricket, I intend to bring together key Indian industry and government figures to highlight the benefits of doing business in and with Victoria, and the strengths of Victorian businesses.

My Melbourne has since secured wider Indian distribution, and will be released across more Indian cities in 2025, continuing to help to promote Melbourne, Victoria, our communities, and our creative sector.