Australia may look at agri worker visas, dual degrees

Melbourne: Australia on Wednesday indicated that it may consider a proposal for Agri visas in future, which can help it meet its requirement for workers. Additionally, it will work out an arrangement for dual degrees with India that will allow students to consider studying at educational institutions two countries.

 Asked about the possibility of Agri business visas, Australian trade minister Dan Tehan said in the future the proposal to expand on mobility of people can be extended beyond yoga teachers, chefs and post-study work vi- sas. “Given the nature of the agreement, and it’s a living agreement, we want to see if we can extend mobility

in- other areas. Down the track, there is no reason why we couldn’t look at agriculture workers or other sections of society that we need here… It is- one we have under active consideration, we will continue to work on as the agreement enters into force,” he said. Government sources said Indian officials were pushing hard for a regime under the

 bilateral trade agreement, which is currently an interim agreement and will be upgraded into a full agreement in the coming months. The sources said that the issue was taken up during the negotiations but remained tight-lipped about the outcome.

Commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal, who is leading a business delegation to the country, on Wednesday set an ambitious target to almost quadruple bilateral trade from $27 billion (comprising goods and services) to $100 billion during the next eight years. He had earlier said that trade could be doubled to $50 billion in five years. “We offer you transparency, our trust, rule of law, we are two democratic nations, both members of the Commonwealth,” Goyal said.