Chennai: Seeking to allay fears about
Indian students coming under attacks, Australian High
Commissioner Peter Varghese on Wednesday said Canberra was
taking a lot of measures for safety of Indians studying there.
"We are certainly taking a lot of steps to do what we
can to ensure their safety," he told reporters on the
sidelines of a function here. "Overall Australia is still a
very safe place".
Peter who visited 'Mithra', an NGO that looks after
children and youth with physical and mental disabilities, said
the flow of Indian students to Australia might have come down
for a number of reasons.
He, however, did not specify any of the reasons.
Stating that Australian government always welcomed
students from India to provide quality education, Peter said
"we don't have the figures on the students visa. It might have
gone down and that could be due to a number of reasons".
To a question, he said the current bilateral trade
between India and Australia was about 19 billion Australian
dollars per year.
Terming the trade between both the countries as "big and
fast," he said Australian government was keen on making India
a number one export market raising it from the current fourth
place.
Bureau Report
First Published: Wednesday, November 18, 2009, 18:34