Hyderabad|India|October'2010:A five member delegation from Australia consisting of Lord Mayor of Brisbane, Councillor Campbell Newman; Mayor of the City of Ipswich, Councillor Paul Pisasale; Mr.Chris Anstey, Chief of Staff, Brisbane; Mr.Barry Hancock, Chief of International Relations, Brisbane; Mr.Laurie Mundt, Economic Development Manager, Ipswich today called on the Chief Minister, Dr.K.Rosaiah at the latter's residence.

Welcoming the delegates, the Chief Minister expressed happiness over the Sister City agreement betweeen the City of Brisbane and the City of Ipswich, Australia and the City of Hyderabad entered on Tuesday (5th October, 2010), with the intention to enhance friendship and cooperation between the three cities. He said, apart from Agriculture, Andhra Pradesh is looking forward to develop relationship with Australian cities in the areas of Education, IT, Biotechnology and Tourism.

Stating that there are lots of similarities between Australia and Andhra Pradesh, the Chief Minister said though both countries are depending on Agriculture, mechanization in agriculture in Andhra Pradesh is in slow process. “ Earlier, we used to import wheat from Australia but now India is self sufficient in wheat production and often exporting to other countries also in order to control the prices”, the Chief Minister said.

Referring to Hyderabad city, the Chief Minister said that the historical city is developing fast in infrastructure as well as in population. “With this type of agreements, we can learn more about one another, and have friendly and meaningful exchanges, with mutual benefits, the Chief Minister said. He hoped that the relationship between Australian cities and Hyderabad would continue further. The Chief Minister also assured the Australian delegation that an official Business delegation from the State would be sent to Australia shortly.

The Brisbane city Mayor said that Brisbane has one of the largest economies and has seen consistent economic growth in recent years as a result of the resources boom. The city of Ipswich is thriving with agricultural technology and hotel industry. The delegation thanked the Chief Minister for the hospitality and invited him to visit Australia at the earliest.

Mayor of Hyderabad, Mrs.Banda Karthika Reddy; Commissioner, GHMC, Mr.Sameer Sarma; Mr. DSN Murthy, CEO, Dhanush Infotec; Mr.Lalit Gupta, Director (Operations), Dhanush Infotec were also present.

-Oct'2010