Australia keen to invest in AP’s aquaculture and dairy industry

Hyderabad, Feb 23 (INN): Following Chief Minister’s presentation at the Indo-Australian Summit in Delhi last month, Sean Kelly, Consul General of Australia, called on Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu at Secretariat on Monday.

During his meeting with the Chief Minister, Kelly said Australia is interested in collaborating with Andhra Pradesh in aquaculture and dairy industry. He stated that Australia specializes in sustainable fisheries management and could work with AP in this sector. “We will ensure that fisheries sector is managed well without exploitation of marine life,” Kelly said.

The Chief Minister said that he aims to make Andhra Pradesh the aquaculture capital of the world and a marine processing hub of India. “We want to make the state number one in terms of processing capacity, value addition and highest exports of seafood,” he added.

According to the Chief Minister, Australia could also explore opportunities in policy-making for the marine industry, research, equipment and machinery with Andhra Pradesh.

Kelly said that Australia is also keen on collaborating with Andhra Pradesh in healthcare management, mining, gas and energy sector, logistics, sports, skill development, education, human resources and pension funds.

In healthcare management, Kelly said Australia could collaborate in Intellectual Property (IP) and medical research as AP is strong in pharmaceutical sector.

The Chief Minister explained that he aims to make AP a logistics hub for South East Asia. “Australia has a strong presence in logistics. We could help AP in that,” Kelly said.

The state government, the Chief Minister said, has plans to set up six universities – Energy University, Water University, Hospitality University, Aquaculture University, Logistics University and Sports University.

Kelly invited Chief Minister to visit Australia and be part of the major Seafood Convention in Perth in October this year. The Chief Minister accepted the invitation and said that he could also send a delegation to Australia before October to study the country’s aquaculture industry.

The Chief Minister said that once the areas of collaboration are finalized, AP government officials and Australian government officials will continuously review the progress of the projects by meeting up once six months.