Council-led Trade Mission India sets flight

Published on 26 August 2019

Blacktown City Council has teamed up with Austrade to send a delegation to India to explore export and trade opportunities.

The delegation flew out of Sydney at the weekend and includes 9 business delegates representing 8 businesses from across western Sydney.

Trade Mission India 2019 is being jointly led by Blacktown City Mayor Stephen Bali, former NSW Premier Nathan Rees and Austrade Commissioner in Chennai, India, Munish Sharma.

Austrade has worked closely with Council to tailor the agenda of meetings and networking opportunities to provide the best opportunities for each business to establish successful trade relations.

Mayor Bali said; “Blacktown City has one of the fastest growing economies in Australia while India has one of the fastest growing economies in the World. Trade between our City and India is a perfect fit.”

“In addition to the business relations, our City has one of the highest populations of people from the Indian diaspora in Australia. 

“This presents a great opportunity to network with government, education institutes, sports institutes and businesses,” said Mayor Bali.

The civic delegation comprises Mayor Bali, the Hon Nathan Rees and Councillors Susai Benjamin and Moninder Singh.

“I am very proud that our two Councillors of Indian origin have joined this mission at their own expense. This shows the level of commitment they have to the community they represent,” said Mayor Bali.

The joint delegation will visit Chennai, Mumbai and Delhi over an 8 day period.

David Mumford, Director, RBK Nutraceuticals operates a business in Seven Hills that exports to 15 countries. “Participating in the Trade Mission to India with Blacktown Council is a great opportunity to meet with pre-arranged qualified importers and distributors of health supplements with the goal of establishing a long term relationships and commencing export to India,” he said.

Murray Bridle, CEO, Container Rotation Systems was the first business to sign up to the Trade Mission. “When this mission presented itself I jumped at the chance to be a participant in a well organised, government-supported and professional group to assist us to make our initial survey of the potential markets and help us proceed to possible export of our systems into this region.”

Alongside the business program, Mayor Bali will undertake a number of civic and cultural appointments including a seminar at the Australian High Commission in New Delhi organised by the Australia, New Zealand and India Business Association, a meeting with the Tamil Nadu Minister for School Education and Sport in Chennai and a presentation to the Mumbai Stock Exchange.