Australian Prime Minister Tony Abott arrived in Mumbai this morning on a two-day visit to India. In Mumbai, he will interact with business leaders and select Indian CEOs. Mr Abott will also attend a lunch of the Australian government's New Colombo Plan in India and attend felicitation of young cricketers by Australian cricket greats Adam Gilchrist and Brett Lee.

Sachin Tendulkar will also attend the function. Mr Abott will leave for New Delhi in the evening. He will meet President Pranab Mukherjee, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj tomorrow. On the eve of his visit to India, Mr Abbott said he plans to sign a nuclear cooperation agreement that will allow Australia to sell uranium to India.

Mr Abbott said if Australia is prepared to sell uranium to Russia then surely we ought to be prepared to provide uranium to India under suitable safeguards. Joint Secretary in the External Affairs Ministry Sanjay Bhattacharya told reporters in New Delhi that Mr Abbott will hold delegation level talks with Mr Modi on wide-ranging issues of international, regional, bilateral importance including cooperation in key areas of security, defence and trade. Mr Abbott expressed hope that his visit will strengthen Australia's trade ties with India in areas including mining, finance and education.

India and Australia have strong and growing economic and trade ties. India is Australia's fifth largest export market, with total exports of 11.4 billion dollars, and there is potential for further cooperation in resources, science, technology and education. About 36 thousand Indian students are enrolled in different institutes of Australia particularly in professional courses.