Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today sought cooperation from the visiting Australian High Commissioner Ms. Harinder Sidhu in the fields of education, skill training, agriculture and urban development.The Australian High Commissioner called on Mr. Badal here at his official residence this afternoon.Taking part in the deliberations, the Chief Minister said that Punjab was a vibrant state and still vied for new vistas to be opened in the arena of mutual interest where both Punjab and Australia could be benefited from one another’s vast experience and expertise in fields like agriculture, food processing and horticulture. The Chief Minister urged Ms. Harinder Sidhu to help the state to provide high yield quality wheat seed to further enhance its quantum of production as Australia had the highest yield of wheat per hectare in the world as revealed by her. Mr. Badal also requested her to initiate a farmer exchange programme between Punjab and Australia so as to enable the progressive farmers to learn about new techniques and modern farm practices of agriculture to maximize their yield.
The Chief Minister also impressed upon the visiting Australian High Commissioner to tie up with their educational institutions and universities in the field of higher and technical education. He also evinced keen interest to have collaboration with Australian government to start new courses in skill development to upgrade the skills of unemployed youth so as to enable them to be gainfully employed. Mr. Badal also offered the Australian envoy to set up healthcare and medical education and research institutions in the upcoming Medi-city in Mullanpur near Chandigarh.Responding to the issues raised by the Chief Minister, Ms. Harinder Sidhu apprised the former that Australian government was already in the advanced stage of signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Punjab Institute of Sports to provide training to the sportspersons as well as the coaches to upgrade their skills in the sports. She said that our government was also striving hard to ink another MoU with the National Institute of Sports, Patiala on the same lines. She expressed gratitude to the Punjab government for having inked a MoU with Australian government in the field of sports. She also offered to help the state in developing Ludhiana, Jalandhar and Amritsar as smart cities as Australia has a proven track and expertise in urban development due to its architectural and engineering marvels known for their sheer acumen and techniques.
Felicitating the Australian envoy being a daughter of Punjab to reach at the zenith of her professional career, Mr. Badal said that she had made every Punjabi proud for this rare accomplishment. The Chief Minister invited her to visit their ancestral village Dharamkot in district Moga next time along with her parents and family to refresh her cherished memories. Mr. Badal also extended an invite to her to visit his native village Badal, where he had established educational institutions right from school to college level of repute and even a nursing college exclusively for girls to promote the concept of women empowerment. He also urged the Australian High Commissioner to visit the Virasat-e-Khalsa, a rare monument to depict the history of Sikhs in a lucid manner through employing various audio-visual techniques.
Highly impressed by Mr. Badal’s sheer passion for overall development and welfare of the state, the Australian Ambassador offered to extend fulsome support and cooperation to Punjab in the field of agriculture, education and skill development. Ms. Sidhu said she was proud to be a Punjabi and it was her endeavour to set up joint ventures in the field of agriculture, food processing and education with mutual cooperation. She apprised Mr. Badal about indomitable and enterprising spirit of Punjabis, who have enormously contributed in the development and growth of Australian economy. The Australian High Commissioner assured Mr. Badal that she would soon get back to him for transforming these proposals put forth by him into projects on the ground after having detailed deliberation with the Australian government.On the occasion, the Chief Minister honoured the Ms. Harinder Sidhu with the memento as a token of love, affection and honour on behalf of Punjabis.The Chief Minister was accompanied by his Special Principal Secretary Mr. Gaggandip Singh Brar. The other two members of the delegation, who accompanied the Australian High Commissioner included; First Secretary, Department of Foreign Affiars & Trade Ms. Tanya Spisbah and Director Northwest India Australian Trade & Investment Commissioner Mr. Ashish Sharma.