- Tuesday, February 25, 2025
The 69-year-old Turnbull is currently touring India with his wife and attended the ongoing Jaipur Literature Festival.
By: Shubham Ghosh
RATING India-Australia friendship as 10 out of 10, former Australian prime minister Malcolm Turnbull has called Indian prime minister Narendra Modi an inspiring leader who is “making a huge difference”. The Indian leader has maintained warm relations with successive Australian premiers and photographs during Turnbull’s visit to India in 2017 suggest that it was no exception with him either.
The 69-year-old Turnbull, whose term ended in 2018, is currently touring India with his wife. One of the speakers at the ongoing 17th edition of the Jaipur Literature Festival (JLF), the veteran Australian leader recalled his “lovely visit” to India in 2017 and the time spent with Modi.
Enjoyed a wide-ranging conversation with former Aus PM @TurnbullMalcolm about Spycatcher, the Murdoch media, his push-back against Chinese‘influence operations’ climate change, fate of the Australian Republican Movement and bilateral ties.
.@JaipurLitFest pic.twitter.com/Bq7qD08xYK— Navdeep Suri (@navdeepsuri) February 3, 2024
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“I had a lovely visit here. I have seen him (Modi) in Japan recently at the funeral of our old friend Shinzo Abe… I enjoyed Mr Modi’s company enormously. I know he is controversial in his own country naturally. But from the outside, an inspiring leader and clearly making a huge difference,” Turnbull, a Liberal Party of Australia leader, told PTI.
The 29th Australian prime minister said the two countries have got many things in common — the love for cricket, rule of law and democracy — and their friendship is “ten out of ten”.
The only problem, he said, is “we don’t do enough trade”.
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This issue, according to Turnbull, who is also an established businessman, was part of the conversation between him and Modi too.
“When we first met, Modi said ‘you have done a lot of international business in your life, you have done a lot of business with China, why have you done very little with India?’. I said, ‘Truthfully, India is too hard to do business in as a foreign investor and he acknowledged that,” Turnbull recalled.
It is “crazy” that China, a communist country, was an easier place to invest than India which is a democracy, he said.
Though he did not criticise India’s “strong protectionist tradition”, which he believes is something that every country manages in their own way, Turnbull admitted that Australia would like to have fewer trade barriers between the two countries.
He, however, did acknowledge some work accomplished towards achieving “closer economic partnerships”, the negotiations of which, he underscored, started during his tenure and finished fairly recently.
“Our trade relations have improved with the limited FTA (Free Trade Agreement) that we have but we have got a long way to go,” he added.
During the conversation, Turnbulll also talked about his autobiography, A Bigger Picture, his eventful life so far as a journalist, banker, lawyer, businessman, the PM of Australia, and why everyone should write about their life — “particularly if you are the PM of your country”.
“Someone told me once very wisely that ‘an older biography is a bit like a highlight, you can’t put everything in and you have got to focus on what are the key episodes or chapters of your life’.
“I tried very hard to make sure it was accurate. I encourage everyone to write, but particularly if you have been the PM and you have had an eventful life. I think in a way you owe it to history, to the people, to your country to set out your story. I mean it is my story but it really belongs to everyone else as much as it does to me,” said Turbull, who has authored several books including “The Spycatcher Trial” and “The reluctant Republic”.
He is scheduled to visit Gujarat, Varanasi, Agra and Delhi.
When asked if he also plans to visit his friend Modi too, he goes: “Know what it is like to be the PM, he has got the country to run”. “I am sure if I ask him to see me, he’ll be happy to see me.
(With PTI inputs)
