Cotton Australia’s Chair and CEO have returned from a trip to India sponsored by the Indian Ministry of Textiles and the Australian government where they met key officials including senior Ministers and trade officials about the potential for increased free trade with Australian cotton growers.

Nigel Burnett and Adam Kay were invited to travel to India with the Free Trade Agreement central to meetings in New Delhi and Mumbai.

One of the highlights was attending the global textile event Bharat Tex in New Delhi, which was opened by hugely popular Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Another key event was a meeting with senior government minister Piyush Goyal who is the Minister for Textiles, highlighting the importance of textiles to India.

“It was a wonderful opportunity to address the Minister about the importance of increasing the free trade quota for Australian cotton. We received a very positive response to that meeting and others involving senior government and industry officials,” Mr Kay said.

“We also discussed possible areas of collaboration to support the possible growth of Australian cotton exports to India, a country which has massive potential considering the have one fifth of the world’s total population.”

Along with the Australian High Commissioner to India, Mr Burnett and Mr Kay attended and presented at the Australia Connect session– an opportunity to promote Australian trade and articulate the Australia cotton industry’s impressive credentials in fibre quality and sustainability.

The delegation visited tribal areas in remote locations where they had an opportunity to speak directly with conventional and organic cotton growers and visit spinning and ginning mills before touring research facilities.

Mr Burnett said it was a humbling experience. “We visited Yavatmal where we sat on rugs among local cotton growers and learnt about their community, their lives and how they grow cotton. They don’t have much, but their commitment to growing cotton and their spirit and work ethic were impressive. It was an honour to spend time with them.”

Mr Kay said he was confident the overseas trade event will yield results for Australian growers. “We will continue the discussions with government and trade officials in Australia and Indian with a view to expanding the trade opportunities between the two countries.”