Announcing Ms Dave's appointment on 7 February, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong stated that the Centre for Australia-India Relations has been set up to promote stronger business and cultural ties between the two nations.
"I look forward to working with Ms Dave on this important initiative as we seek to deepen our engagement with India, one of our most important regional partners," the minister said.
Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong. Source: AAP / LUKAS COCH/AAPIMAGE
Ms Dave currently serves as Deputy Chair of Asia Society Australia and as a member of the National Foundation for Australia-China Relations' Advisory Board. She is also an Investment Committee member for QIC Global Infrastructure.
The Centre will be delivering the Maitri (friendship) Program, involving research and cultural partnership grants, fellowships and scholarships.
In an interview with SBS Hindi, Ms Dave said she feels privileged to be appointed as the inaugural chair of the centre, and she understands that the task will be challenging.
"Its a very important role and a very important organisation because we know that bilateral relationship with India are incredibly strong. There is so much strategic alignment between our two countries," she said.
Swati Dave
"We want to improve business literacy, we want to make sure there is much more policy dialogue, we want to make sure that we really leverage the high level of diaspora engagement and on top of all that, ultimately, we want to deliver some trade and investment outcomes," she said.
The Centre, a $24.1 million national platform, will focus on several critical areas, including engaging the Indian diaspora and deepening cultural ties.
"My passion in all of this is to make sure that we help Australia understand what's going on in India and to start to leverage some of those opportunities before us," she commented.
Highlighting the role of Indian diaspora in further deepening the relations between the two nations, she said "My reflection on the diaspora is, it is very vibrant... the diaspora is really the main point of connection."
"A pre-condition to having a really strong business relationship is having that cultural understanding...at the end of the day every relationship starts with peoples' relationships," she added.
"We (the Centre) are not trying to replace or replicate what has been done. What we would like to do is make sure that we help alleviate those relationship," she said.
The Centre, which was announced last year, will also be administering over $20 million in Maitri (friendship) initiatives, including a scholars program, a grants and fellowship program and a cultural partnership.
Ms Dave was most recently Managing Director and CEO of Export Finance Australia, and has held senior positions at National Australia Bank, Deutsche Bank, AMP Henderson Global Investors, Bankers Trust and Westpac.
