New Delhi, July 23: In a bid to enhance bilateral relations, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Michael Rudd and Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard will visit India later this year.
“Rudd is coming towards the end of the year while Gillard is expected in September to take forward the bilateral ties,” Australian Minister for Immigration and Citizenship Chris Evans told reporters after meeting HRD Minister Kapil Sibal here.
The visits assume significance in the backdrop of the series of attacks on Indian students in Australia.
“Rudd and Gillard will take up with India broad range of issues, including matters of cooperation in economy, education, science and technology and security,” Australian High Commissioner to India John McCarthy told PTI.
On attacks on Indian students, Evans said “these attacks are committed by criminals. But we want to reiterate our commitment to provide safety and security to International students.”
He said his country encourages more Indians to migrate to Australia which needs doctors, engineers and IT professionals and added that India is the second largest source of migration of people to Australia.
Expressing concern that “some of the students do not get good quality education because they are not well informed”, Evans said “we want that people going to Australia get good quality education.”
–PTI