(MENAFN- Live Mint) New Delhi: Australia's massive reserves of critical minerals are among the multiple pathways of co-operation between India and Australia, along with tourism, education, and agribusiness, according to Australia's assistant minister Julian Hill.

Australia's lithium, copper, nickel and cobalt are helping power India's manufacturing ambitions, Hill, assistant minister for international education, citizenship, customs, multicultural affairs, said on Thursday at India-Australia Business Summit 2025 in New Delhi.

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Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese launched a new roadmap for ties with India earlier this year, which identifies four sectors, clean energy, agribusiness, education and skilling, and tourism, he said.

"It (the roadmap) identifies four sectors, or superhighways, which we think are most prospective. One, clean energy. That's Australian critical minerals helping to power India's manufacturing ambitions in renewables. Australia produces over half the world's lithium and we have the world's second largest reserves of nickel, copper and cobalt," said the assistant minister.

Scale-up plans

India aims to scale up manufacturing in strategic sectors such as renewable energy and clean mobility. The two countries united on the critical minerals front in July, when as members of the Quad alliance, they launched a Quad Critical Minerals Initiative, pledging to work together to secure and diversify supply chains.

The Quad is an alliance of India, the US, Japan, and Australia, and its Critical Minerals Initiative came amid China's chokehold on rare earth magnets, which the world's second-largest economy stopped exporting in April. This sent manufacturers across the globe into a frenzy. These magnets are used in sectors such as defence, electronics, renewable energy, and automobiles, including electric vehicles.

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India's government has since greenlit a ₹7,280 crore plan to incentivise five rare earth magnet-making facilities in the country, aiming to build a resilient domestic supply chain.

Hill also said bilateral trade between India and Australia has doubled in the last five years, benefiting from the 2022 Economic Co-operation and Trade Agreement (ECTA).

Rising exports

He noted that exports from India to Australia had risen in sectors such as agriculture (35%), automotive (100%), and apparel (20%) under the ECTA. "On the Australian side, we're pleased to have seen big increases in the export of ore and mineral shipments to India," said Hill.

Highlighting the multicultural diversity within Australia, Hill said the most common surname among all Australian registered cricket players is 'Singh'.

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He also noted that despite rising bilateral trade and improving economic ties, India remains one of Australia's smaller trade partners compared with China. "...we can't be complacent, because there is a lot more that we can and should do to fulfil our potential. Despite the rapid growth that we've seen, that I've outlined, Australia's current trade with India is still relatively low. It's less than 20% of Australia's trade with China. So taking advantage of the economic agreements in place now, we can do a lot more together," he said.

"Australia and India are now negotiating to upgrade ECTA into a comprehensive economic cooperation agreement, which we're confident will unlock more trade and investment,” he said.

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