Indian PM visits Melbourne

Indian Prime Minster Narendra Modi was in Melbourne Tuesday (18 Nov 2014), engaged in diplomatic duties and promoting India as 'open for business'.

Tuesday night saw Australian PM Tony Abbott host a dinner in honour of Mr Modi at the Melbourne Cricket Club.

Link: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi talks business in Melbourne (opens a link to The Age in a new window)

It was a night full of celebrities, who’s who of Australians of the year, well known academics, cricketing legends and business people from India and Australia... and ECT Chairman Glenn Fozard.

The initial speeches occurred in the Olympic room to about 1000 people and then it moved into the MCC members dining room for a smaller grouping, which included our Chairman.

It was at that point that the protocols were laid out. No phones, no cameras and no approaching the VIPs. Typical security procedure for such an event.

The evening was a valuable opportunity for Prime Minister Modi to reinforce a number of points:

• He is serious about shaping the direction of his country's growing economy
• India is open for business
• Bilateral trade and investment is a major focus

In the lead up to the event we managed to provide both Prime Minister's offices with a confidential briefing of our activities with two of India's leading PSU's, Neyveli Lignite Corporation (NLC) and the National Mineral Development Corporation of India (NMDC).

The briefing focused on:

• Introducing ECT and it's Coldry and Matmor technologies
• Highlighting the current stage of development; Coldry and Matmor poised to advance to demonstration and pilot stages, respectively
• It also covered off the high-level drivers for deployment of both techs in India as follows:

Coldry Benefits

• Energy security
  • Unlocking a new, domestic source of 'black coal equivalent' for power generation, and higher-value applications such as coal to oil and gas, and Matmor
  • Security of supply to new and existing power stations, mitigating the threat of power shortages
• Economic security
  • Upgrading the economic value of lignite
  • Import replacement
  • Local manufacturing
  • Mitigating lost productivity by contributing to power supply stability
• Environmental security
  • Lower CO₂ emissions compared to lignite
  • Increased economic dividends, leading to improved funding outcomes for often costly environmental initiatives

Matmor Benefits

• Significantly broaden the raw material supply options of primary iron making, and deliver substantial decreases in raw material costs
• Reduced reliance on coking coal (or coke), increasing resource security
• Candidate brown coals are widely available, and significantly lower in cost
• Offset imports by utilising domestic lignite and ‘waste’ iron ore resources to help meet India’s forecast growth in steel intensity

Events such as this provide an opportunity to network, reinforce the drivers behind our India strategy, and focus relevant parties on the solutions we're developing.