South and West Asia

Programs 1.1 and 1.9

Overview

High-level visits to India, Afghanistan and Pakistan provided opportunities to advance Australia’s security, economic and trade interests. The department maintained a high-quality and increasingly innovative aid program across South and West Asia focused on economic growth and governance, empowering women and girls, education, infrastructure, resource security and health.

We helped deliver a range of initiatives to further strengthen our strategic, economic, institutional and people-to-people links with India during a year in which the bilateral partnership reached new heights—underlined by historic two-way prime ministerial visits and other high-level contact, including by our portfolio ministers.

We continued to encourage stability in the region, leading Australia’s whole-of-government efforts to advance security, growth and development in Afghanistan in a very challenging operating environment. The Foreign Minister’s visit to Pakistan was the first by an Australian foreign minister since 2009 and, with the department’s support, served to reinforce bilateral security and development cooperation.

The department moved quickly after elections in Sri Lanka to confirm the strength of an increasingly broad-based relationship. We responded quickly and effectively to the earthquakes in Nepal. As chair of the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA), we continued to promote regional economic cooperation and women’s empowerment.

Under the New Colombo Plan (NCP), more than 500 Australian undergraduates are now studying in India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Maldives across a diverse range of disciplines.

India

The department worked to expand Australia’s strategic partnership with India, including through visits by Prime Minister Tony Abbott to India in September 2014 and Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Australia in November 2014. The two leaders reinvigorated negotiations toward a Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA), agreeing to pursue an early conclusion of an agreement. They endorsed a new bilateral Framework for Security Cooperation and witnessed the signing of a civil Nuclear Cooperation Agreement.

The department supported a visit by Ms Bishop to India in April 2015 to co-chair the 10th round of the Foreign Ministers’ Framework Dialogue with her Indian counterpart. Ministers advanced the ambitious agenda agreed during both prime ministerial visits, particularly on security cooperation under the new framework.

We provided support for the Trade and Investment Minister’s talks in India in January, April and June 2015, to advocate conclusion of a mutually beneficial CECA. (Mr Robb also visited in September 2014 as part of the Prime Minister’s delegation.) The January visit was built around Australia Business Week in India, which included the largest ever Australian business delegation to India, with 450 Australian companies represented. In June 2015, we also supported a visit to Hyderabad and Mumbai by Parliamentary Secretary Ciobo, which included a business delegation focused on infrastructure, health and financial services. In managing these visits, we worked closely with Austrade, the lead agency in arranging the business delegations.

We worked with Australian states with a presence in India and other Australian agencies to intensify engagement with Indian state governments, especially in high-growth states. We helped establish state-to-state contact between New South Wales and Maharashtra and Gujarat.

We also revitalised the Australia–India CEO Forum. The first meeting took place in Delhi during Mr Robb’s June visit. The forum focused on resources and energy, financial services, infrastructure including logistics, education and agribusiness.

We used the new Framework for Security Cooperation to work with the Department of Defence and other agencies to advance Australia’s security interests with India. We deepened cooperation on counter-terrorism, agreed to start new bilateral cyber policy consultations and increased collaboration on transnational crime issues, including people smuggling.

In July 2014, the Secretary held annual talks with his Indian counterpart to further key trade and investment initiatives, and cooperation on defence and security. In June 2015, he also participated in an inaugural trilateral dialogue with India and Japan. The trilateral dialogue will strengthen these key relationships in addressing issues of common strategic interest in the Indo–Pacific region and through cooperation in areas such as regional connectivity and infrastructure development.

We hosted a visit for six Indian editors and journalists in May 2015 to build appreciation of the Australian economy, economic reform and avenues for growing Australia’s economic relationship with India. We also facilitated visits by two Indian parliamentary delegations, in August 2014 and May 2015.

The department helped build closer people-to-people links through strong promotion of cultural and education matters. The Prime Minister launched the NCP in India in September 2014. India is a favoured destination for Australian NCP students doing short courses and internships.

With the Department of Industry and Science, we committed to provide combined funding of $20 million over four years from 2015–16 for collaboration under the Australia–India Strategic Research Fund. The fund has supported projects in areas such as agricultural research, biomedical devices and implants, nanotechnology and vaccines.

^(a) Goods data on a recorded trade basis, services data on a balance of payments basis.

^(b) Excludes some confidential items of trade. For more information refer to the DFAT Adjustments article.

^(c) Other South & West Asia comprises Afghanistan, Bhutan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Maldives, Nepal, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

Based on DFAT STARS database, ABS catalogue 5368.0.55.004 and unpublished ABS data.

Afghanistan

Afghanistan continued to be an extremely challenging operating environment. Through our presence, and support for the NATO-led Resolute Support mission, the department continued to reinforce Australia’s strategic alliance objectives and help prevent Afghanistan from once again becoming a safe haven for international terrorists. We worked closely with NATO, the Afghan Government and other Australian agencies during the transition to the Resolute Support mission, which came into effect on 1 January 2015. We also strengthened bilateral ties, including by supporting political and economic reform through our development program.

Following elections in Afghanistan and the formation of the Afghan National Unity Government in October 2014, we facilitated a visit to Kabul by the Governor-General. We supported Ms Bishop’s visit to Kabul for Australia Day 2015, reaffirming Australia’s support for Afghanistan’s stability and growth. We hosted a visit to Australia by three eminent female Afghan parliamentarians in May 2015 to promote gender equality, women’s empowerment and parliamentary democracy.

As Chair of the UN Security Council’s 1988 Sanctions Committee until December 2014, we enabled the council to prosecute the Taliban sanctions regime. The department took the lead on the December 2014 Security Council resolution welcoming the Resolute Support mission.

The department provided bilateral aid of $130.9 million to Afghanistan, and total ODA of an estimated $134 million. We worked to deliver programs on economic growth and governance, empowering women and girls, education, infrastructure, and health. We provided essential and life-saving services to female survivors of violence and their children, supported 3698 additional children (2595 girls) to enrol in schools and provided more than 500,000 children with vaccinations.

We provided US$20 million to the Afghan National Defence and Security Forces to support the development of the Afghan National Police and the Ministry of Interior Affairs.

Our agriculture assistance program supported research and innovative practices for small farmers, and expanded access to markets for families, with a particular focus on women’s economic empowerment. We delivered humanitarian services to vulnerable communities, including food to 215,000 beneficiaries living in regional and remote areas over winter. We also funded construction, rehabilitation and maintenance of 135 kilometres of rural roads in Uruzgan province. Our public financial management training activities reached over 900 civil servants, resulting in direct improvements to government service delivery.

Pakistan

The department hosted Pakistan–Australia bilateral political consultations in March 2015 and supported a 1.5 Track dialogue (academics and officials) in Islamabad in February 2015. With other agencies, we continued our defence, counter-terrorism, irregular migration, transnational crime and nuclear non-proliferation engagement with Pakistan.

During her visit to Pakistan in May 2015, Ms Bishop announced a $24 million aid package, including an aid for trade program to strengthen Pakistan’s trade-related institutions and policies and promote trade at key border posts. The department helped increase Australia’s trade with Pakistan by facilitating greater market access for Australian dairy products.

The department managed aid to Pakistan totalling $75.9 million. Through the aid program, we shared Australian scientific expertise in agriculture and water management to improve Pakistan’s agricultural productivity and contribute to economic growth.

The Australia Awards program (120 long-term and 49 short-term scholars) remained a key investment in strengthening people-to-people links with Pakistan. The department also supported an additional 118,000 children to enrol in basic education and trained 4000 teachers. Our programs have supported improvements in maternal and child health and women survivors of domestic violence to access critical support services.

Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, Maldives and Bhutan

The department continued its strong cooperation with Sri Lanka to counter people smuggling, build an enhanced economic partnership, support the new Sri Lankan Government’s good governance agenda and provide practical support for reconciliation.

We helped Austrade and the Export Finance and Insurance Corporation use Australia’s agricultural expertise to develop Sri Lankan domestic dairy capacity. As a result, Australia is a preferred country of origin for importation of dairy cattle.

Following Sri Lanka’s presidential elections in January 2015, we engaged early with the new government on its democratic reform agenda, including through renewing our offer to support reconciliation efforts. Our support to the Ministry of Resettlement assisted development of a Resettlement Action Plan for internally displaced persons.

In close collaboration with his department, we facilitated the May 2015 visit by the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection. The visit reaffirmed our mutual commitment to counter people smuggling and combat other transnational crimes.

The department’s trade and economic diplomacy efforts were complemented by the aid program to Sri Lanka ($40.6 million). This aid improved teaching in over 4500 schools, built over 600 kilometres of road in the north and east and expanded economic opportunities for thousands of men and women displaced during the civil conflict. We also supported gender empowerment by increasing the incomes of over 3600 women and enabling women to gain better access to education, legal services and finance for new enterprises.

The NCP began in Sri Lanka in 2015 with the placement of more than 50 students. We endowed a further 35 scholarships for masters-level study for emerging leaders through the Australia Awards program.

Continued political unrest in Bangladesh between government and opposition parties over the election process resulted in transport blockades and violence. We responded by advocating de-escalation and respect for democracy, the rule of law and human rights. Working with other agencies, we strengthened ties in areas such as maritime security, counter-terrorism, people smuggling and human trafficking.

Our economic diplomacy helped boost two-way trade with Bangladesh to around $1.4 billion, an 8 per cent increase over the previous year. We backed Australian universities’ cultivation of the Bangladesh market, advised Australian fashion retailers on the opportunities and risks in Bangladesh’s garment sector, and promoted Australia’s food and agriculture competitiveness. We helped business to build connections in the resources extraction, power generation and skills development sectors.

We managed a quality aid program ($89.5 million) which assisted Bangladesh to pursue reforms in teacher training, curriculum development and student assessment. It enabled 306,674 children to enrol in school and helped train over 13,738 teachers.

In partnership with foreign governments and NGOs, we also supported low-income women and their families with regular cash transfers, income producing assets, enterprise training and health care. This support helped increase the income levels of 118,026 poor Bangladeshis.

The department supported the former Parliamentary Secretary, Dr Brett Mason’s, attendance as an observer at the 18th summit meeting of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation in Kathmandu, in November 2014.

We provided $52.2 million in aid to Nepal for ongoing aid programs and recovery efforts, including humanitarian assistance of more than $11 million following the earthquakes in April and May 2015. (See Figure 30.) Our aid program focused on micro-enterprise development, job creation and improving access to quality education.

The department continued to raise with the Maldives Government, and in international forums, Australia’s concern at the serious decline over the past year in human rights and democracy in the Maldives. We also engaged with relevant Maldivian counterparts on transnational crime issues and the threat posed by foreign fighters.

Our aid program to Maldives ($6.2 million) focused on improving education and governance and strengthening people-to-people links. Australian volunteers helped education institutions to reform teacher training, update the school curriculum and develop new vocational training courses. We also provided 33 scholarships enabling a further cohort of Maldivians to study at Australian universities.

Development cooperation remained central to Australia’s relationship with Bhutan. In 2014–15, our total aid was $9.2 million. We supported people-to-people links, including through the provision of 52 long-term and 49 short-term Australia Awards for Bhutanese students to study in Australia. Additional support was provided to Bhutan’s Royal Institute of Management to assist doctoral studies for faculty members to upgrade their teaching qualifications. The department facilitated visits to Australia by Bhutan’s Queen Mother, a delegation from the Parliament of Bhutan and the Bhutanese Minister for Labour and Human Resources.

In addition to the above bilateral programs, the department managed $24.5 million in development assistance across the South Asia region to promote economic connectivity through trade facilitation and infrastructure connectivity, and cross-border cooperation on water, food and energy security.

The high cost of trading within South Asia adversely affects business and limits the region’s growth potential. To address this challenge, we established a partnership with the World Bank to progress trade connectivity reforms in the north-east of the region to particularly benefit women traders. In line with our economic diplomacy objectives, we also contributed to efforts to close the region’s infrastructure gap by facilitating development of infrastructure in the transport and energy sectors—including the ‘Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor’ linking Punjab to West Bengal.

Over the last year, the department worked to increase food, energy and water security in South Asia. With CSIRO, we helped develop Pakistan’s National Water Plan and build the capacity of national and state river and water management agencies. This included visits to Australia by officials from Nepal, India, Pakistan and China to learn from our experience in managing water resources and foster cross-border collaboration. Our support to the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development and its work on landslide and flood risk assessment provided crucial data in response and recovery efforts following the Nepal earthquakes.

Through the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research, we worked to increase rice and wheat crop productivity in rural villages across north-west Bangladesh, the eastern Terai area of Nepal, and the Indian states of Bihar and West Bengal.

Indian Ocean Rim Association

During the second half of Australia’s period as Chair (2013–2015), we continued efforts to invigorate IORA as the premier vehicle for cooperation between countries in the Indian Ocean region.

At the annual ministerial meeting in Perth in October 2014, chaired by Ms Bishop, member states signed an economic declaration which acknowledged the role of the blue economy as a driver of growth in the region. We initiated a business stream in parallel to the ministerial meeting, including an event to promote economic empowerment of women. We also established an IORA Economic Diplomacy Fund to help sharpen IORA’s economic focus. Initiatives funded included development of sustainable aquaculture technologies and building sustainable whale and dolphin watching tourism in IORA member states.

Central Asia

The department continued to build Australia’s trade and investment links with Central Asia—Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. We paid particular attention to relations with Kazakhstan, hosting senior officials’ talks in June 2015 and facilitating the opening of the Kazakhstan Consulate in Sydney. We supported the visit to Australia of the Foreign Policy Adviser to the President of Kazakhstan. The visit allowed us to highlight Australian technical expertise in water management and the agriculture and mining sectors. We also facilitated the visit of the President of Kazakhstan’s Bolashak Scholarship Program to strengthen links between education institutions.

Outlook

The department will continue to strengthen Australia’s relations with South and West Asia through high-level visits, intensified economic diplomacy, and initiatives under our aid program, including support for economic growth and resilience and gender equality. We will work to foster closer business, education and other people-to-people links, including through the NCP.

We will intensify engagement with India through consolidated and expanded senior-level dialogue arrangements and practical cooperation under the Framework for Security Cooperation. We will foster new opportunities for trade and investment with the conclusion of a high quality CECA and related economic cooperation initiatives, and increase people-to-people links through culture, arts and tourism activities and the work of the Australia–India Council.

Afghanistan will remain an extremely challenging operating environment. We will continue to lead whole-of-government efforts, working closely with the Department of Defence to draw down Australia’s military contribution to the Resolute Support Mission. We will engage closely with the new Sri Lankan Government in support of our commercial and people smuggling interests, and to help post-conflict reconciliation efforts where appropriate. We will look to enhance trade, investment and energy ties and security engagement with Bangladesh and Pakistan.

In IORA, the department will work to ensure the smooth handover of the chair to Indonesia and support a continued regional focus on maritime safety and security, sustainable economic growth and institutional reform. We will continue to drive initiatives in IORA on women’s empowerment.

We will focus on the recovery and reconstruction effort in Nepal. In consultation with partner governments, we will finalise Aid Investment Plans for Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal, and support cross-border connectivity and sustainable development over the South Asia region.