New Delhi, Feb 14 (IANS): Following meetings between India's Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal and Australian Trade, Tourism and Investment Minister Dan Tehan in New Delhi, the Australian government has also renewed the bilateral MoU on tourism cooperation and launched the Australia India Infrastructure Forum.

As per the Australian Trade Commission, the renewed MoU positions tourism operators to take advantage of Australian international border reopening to all fully vaccinated eligible visa holders, including tourists and business travellers, from February 21. Under the MoU, Australia and India will promote travel between the two markets and advance cooperation on tourism policy, data sharing, training and industry engagement.

Pre-pandemic, India was Australia's fastest-growing source of international visitors. In 2019, almost 400,000 visitors from India visited Australia and spent a combined total of $1.8 billion.

"The Australia India Infrastructure Forum will serve as a hub to promote two-way investment in infrastructure. As a side initiative of the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement, currently under negotiation with India, it will also support our broader trade and investment objectives. A new $5.8 million Bay of Bengal Connectivity Partnership will expand this work to other countries in the region.

"These initiatives reflect our nations' shared commitment to cooperation and exchange, as set out in the Australia-India Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, agreed in June 2020," the Trade Commission said.