NSW Liberal leader Kellie Sloane has pledged to lead a trade and investment mission to India within her first year as premier if the Coalition wins the next state election, putting the NSW-India economic relationship into the opposition’s campaign agenda.
Sloane said she would travel with NSW Nationals leader Gurmesh Singh, who would become deputy premier under a Liberal-Nationals government, as the Coalition looks to increase Indian investment in NSW and expand export opportunities for local businesses.
The Coalition said more than 350,000 people of Indian cultural heritage live in NSW and placed the value of two-way trade between the state and India at more than $6.8 billion.
“India is the world’s fastest growing economy, and I want to strengthen the NSW-India relationship, so that our state is first in line to attract investment and unlock new export markets,” Sloane said.
The proposed mission would build on ties developed during previous Coalition governments, including trade visits to India and state-level agreements with Gujarat and Maharashtra.
“The former NSW Liberals and Nationals Government understood the importance of the NSW-Indian relationship to our economy and established trade and cultural arrangements in Gujarat with Narendra Modi and the Sister State Relationship with the Maharashtra Government,” Sloane said.
The Coalition pointed to trade missions led by former premiers Barry O’Farrell, Mike Baird and Dominic Perrottet, as well as the sister-state relationship established with Maharashtra in 2012.
Singh said the federal Australia-India Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement, signed in 2022, had opened further opportunities for regional industries and argued NSW should make greater use of the agreement.
“NSW farmers produce the best food and fibre in the world, and we want to back them to access the opportunities that India presents to grow exports and create more jobs in regional NSW,” Singh said.
The Nationals leader also accused the Minns government of failing to do enough to develop the NSW-India relationship during its term in office and called on Premier Chris Minns to match the Coalition’s commitment to an India mission.
The pledge places trade, agriculture and investment at the centre of the Coalition’s India policy, with the opposition seeking to present stronger state-level engagement with one of Australia’s largest trading partners as part of its economic pitch ahead of the election.
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