New Delhi, March 3 (IANS) Striking a chord with the student community of Delhi University where he went for an interaction Wednesday morning, Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith compared India and Australia’s relationship to an exciting Twenty20 cricket match.
“Australia-India relation is like a Twenty20 game. There are intense moments of enthusiasm and then long periods of inactivity. We should now convert this into a test match,” Smith, who confessed to being an ardent cricket and hockey fan, told students at the St. Stephen’s college in the capital.
Twenty20 or T20 cricket involves two teams, each has a single innings, batting for 20 overs. Test cricket is however a longer form of the game, played over five days.
Touching upon the issue of assaults on Indian students in Australia since May last year, Smith said: “Both India and Australia see education as a great opportunity for young people. The assaults on Indian students in Australia are regrettable and we are doing all we can to address the issue”.
“The Indian foreign minister agreed that these incidents should not adversely affect the strategic relationship which have been taken to new heights in the past two years. One of the main aims of my visit is to further advance our strategic partnership,” he told the morning assembly.
On a three-day visit to India, Smith further said that they are seeking a better portrayal of Australia.
“Modern Australia is a country of migrants. On our national day Jan 26, we had 160,000 migrants from 140 countries take up Australian citizenship. Therefore we are a multi cultural society with zero tolerance towards racism,” he said.
Smith was gifted a St. Stephen’s tie by the college principal Valson Thampu.
Rishabh Sharma, a second year student of the college, said: “The minister sounded pretty convincing although every attack that we hear of portrays a very negative image of Australia. I had struck off Australia from my list of options for higher studies after graduation, but I am reconsidering my decision now.”
