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27th Governor of Queensland Her Excellency the Honourable Dr Jeannette Young AC PSM

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India Trade Mission Dinner

Minister for Finance, Trade, Employment and Training, the Honourable Ros Bates MP; Consul-General of India, Ms Neetu Bhaagotia; distinguished guests.

I begin by acknowledging the Original Custodians of the lands around Brisbane, the Turrbal and Jagera people, and pay my respects to Elders past, present and emerging.

Thank you all for accepting the invitation to join Graeme and me tonight to celebrate the success of last month’s trade mission to India to strengthen our State’s bilateral links with this rising super-power.

It may have been the first visit to India for Graeme and me, but ties between India and Queensland’s Governors actually stretch back as far as Queensland’s separation from New South Wales.

In 1860, within months of his appointment as our very first Governor, Sir George Bowen was promoting the potential for trade, proposing that cotton be grown in Queensland and that experienced Indian workers be brought in to harvest it.

Subsequent Governors also had strong ties with the nation: Sir Henry Wylie Norman was offered the post of Viceroy of India in the 1890s at the end of his term here; Lord Lamington served as Governor of Bombay in the early 20th century, as did Sir Leslie Orme Wilson before his appointment here in 1932; and our 25th Governor, Ms Penelope Wensley, became Australia’s first female High Commissioner to India in 2001.

That long tradition of ties between India and our State’s Vice-Regal representative has helped form the foundation of our current bilateral ties, but today, the most important aspect of Queensland’s relationship with India is arguably the Australia-India Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement of 2022, complemented by the Queensland-India Trade and Investment Strategy and the federal government’s newly announced ‘Roadmap for Australia’s Economic Engagement with India’.

The ECTA agreement, made to deepen and broaden the economic partnership between Queensland and India, is one of the great successes of Trade and Investment Queensland since its establishment in 2013, and its importance was very evident in Hyderabad during BioAsia 2025 with 20 delegates, representing 10 Queensland companies and research institutions, given the unprecedented opportunity to reach an immediate audience of thousands and the potential to reach many more.

Graeme and I very much valued our visits to the Indian Institute of Information Technology in Hyderabad, Infravision’s extraordinary new facility in Noida, and Infosys and Ferra Aerospace India in Bengaluru.

In addition, I had the great privilege of addressing the BioAsia Opening Ceremony, with the visit made particularly special thanks to the invitation to join Minister Bates in co-hosting the inauguration of the Queensland Showcase.

Each one of these events was a unique opportunity to promote Queensland, and I thank Trade and Investment Queensland for this and congratulate them on the level of targeted exposure they have achieved in a market which is increasingly vital to our State.

After our long careers in health and research, Graeme and I were of course excited to see the pioneering work in global health and the transformative technological innovations, but we were equally thrilled and grateful to have the opportunity to visit such iconic cultural sites as Ghandi’s final resting place in Raj Ghat, Humayan’s wonderful garden tomb, and the truly awe-inspiring Taj Mahal.

I thank everyone concerned for making this such a fruitful and enjoyable mission, and wish you every success as collaborations continue to develop and flourish.