-
Kevin Rudd - Source: Reuters
Cyclone Phyan has thrown Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's trip to India off course.
Rudd was forced to re-arrange his trip to India - missing the
Mumbai leg of his journey - because of the approaching cyclone,
which was pelting the city with rain early on Wednesday.
His officials have blamed the weather for the decision to call off
the visit to Mumbai.
They are worried about its impact on the prime minister's flights
into and out of the city.
Another reason for the change is the cancellation of a cricket
match Rudd was due to attend.
Rudd was due start his whistle-stop visit with an appearance at
the one-day international cricket match between India and Australia
on Wednesday night.
But the cricket was cancelled because of the approach of Cyclone
Phyan, which is threatening the west coast of the country.
In its lunchtime bulletin, the India Meteorological Department was
reporting the cyclone was a red alert, expected to cause storm
surges of about a metre in the Greater Mumbai region when it hits
landfall.
It was about 250km south south-west of Mumbai and was heading in a
north north-easterly direction.
However, by mid-afternoon the weather appeared to be
improving.
The cancellation of the Mumbai leg is yet another blow to the
government's attempts to strengthen relations with the Asian
superpower.
Rudd has twice before had to postpone visits to India, which was
flagged a foreign policy priority by Labor when it won government
in 2007.
He has had to cancel a meeting with business leaders because Mumbai
is no longer on the agenda.
Australia is eager to grow its economic and strategic links with
India, the biggest democracy in the world with a population of 1.2
billion and a growing middle class.
India is already Australia's fifth biggest customer and is crucial
to its growth prospects over the coming decades.
Rudd will now fly directly into New Delhi, where he has a
jam-packed schedule of meetings.
The highlight of the day will be a meeting with Indian Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh, after which the leaders are expected to
announce a number of climate change and agricultural-related
projects.
Australia is expected to inject $62 million over five years into
the Australia-India Strategic Research Fund.
"The fund supports 50 joint projects in a range of priority areas
agreed by the two governments including renewable energy,
agricultural research and vaccines," a spokesman for Mr Rudd
said.
Another $1.2 million is expected to go to a joint solar cooling
project, while $25 million will be spent on a five-year research
into dry land farming.
Rudd is also due to meet India's External Affairs Minister SM
Krishna.
The meetings with both Krishna and Dr Singh will give the Rudd
government another opportunity to reassure New Delhi that Australia
is taking steps to deal with problems in its international
education sector.
The industry, worth $19.4 billion a year, is being threatened by a
spate of attacks in the past year against Indian students that in
turned highlighted problems with the rapidly-growing sector.
India is second only to China in the number of students it sends to
Australia.
While the government is keen to shore up the tertiary education
industry, it was younger Indians who were treated to a visit by
Rudd's wife, Therese Rein.
Rein visited youngsters at a kindergarten in the Dharavi slum, the
biggest in Asia.
She danced and sang with the children before reading them a
book.
World News Video
-
Dangerous rush to Everest summit (1:59)
-
Dozens killed in Syrian massacre (2:09)
-
'King of Romance' competes in Eurovision (1:46)
