Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese jointly addressed the Australia-India CEOs Forum and Economic Roadmap Business event in Melbourne on July 9, 2026. The events featured participation from leading Indian and Australian CEOs, business leaders, representatives of major Australian superannuation funds and institutional investors, and Vice-Chancellors of leading Australian universities.
At the CEOs Forum, Prime Minister Modi highlighted India's strong economic growth, policy reforms, digital transformation, and expanding innovation ecosystem as creating new business opportunities for Australian partners. He emphasized the complementarities between the Indian and Australian economies, specifically identifying vast opportunities across manufacturing, clean energy, critical minerals, mining, infrastructure, urban development, aviation, logistics, advanced technologies, artificial intelligence, fintech, food processing, and digital economy sectors. Modi stated that India's scale combined with Australian expertise creates a win-win proposition.
The Prime Minister explicitly invited Australian investors to capitalize on opportunities for long-term investments in India. He welcomed the growing presence of Australian universities in India and highlighted that deeper collaboration in higher education, research, innovation, and skill development would prepare talent in both countries for future readiness while helping them tap into global opportunities.
At the larger Economic Roadmap business event, which included over 200 CEOs and business leaders from both countries, Modi emphasized the natural synergies between India and Australia. He noted that shared democratic values, a common vision for the Indo-Pacific, vibrant people-to-people ties, and strong political understanding create fertile ground for business partnership growth. Expressing satisfaction with the growth of trade and investment ties under the Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (ECTA) of 2022, he called for early conclusion of the proposed Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) to propel business ties to a new level.
Modi urged business leaders to leverage complementary strengths in both countries to create global solutions, particularly in rare earths, lithium, batteries, electronics, electric vehicles, semiconductors, artificial intelligence, and defence supply chains. He suggested that for bilateral business ties to reach the next level, Indian states and Australian provinces should forge dynamic economic partnerships based on their core competencies. Noting the optimism and meaningful ideas generated during the discussions, Prime Minister Modi expressed confidence that India-Australia economic ties would continue to prosper.