India, Australia focus on ties
NEW DELHI: Defence minister Rajnath Singh on Friday held wide-ranging talks with his Australian counterpart Peter Dutton, with focus on bilateral defence cooperation and expanding military engagements.
The talks took place a day ahead of the inaugural 2+2 dialogue between foreign and defence ministers of the two countries.
In a statement, released soon after the talks, Singh said the India-Australia partnership is based on the shared vision of “free, open, inclusive and rulesbased Indo-Pacific region”.
“India is committed to building a robust partnership with Australia for the security and growth of the entire region,” he said. The two sides agreed to explore the potential for co-development of equipment, Singh said.
“India-Australia discussions today focused on our bilateral defence cooperation and expanding military engagements across services, enhancing defence information sharing and cooperation in emerging defence technologies,” he said in the statement.
“Australia, India have tremendous stakes in peace, development and free flow of trade, rules-based order and economic growth region,” he said.
Australian foreign minister Marise Payne and Dutton arrived here on Friday for the two-plus-two dialogue during which both sides are expected to deliberate on further solidifying bilateral defence and strategic ties besides exchanging views on the situation in Afghanistan following the Taliban takeover.
At the ministerial dialogue, the two sides are also expected to discuss ways to boost cooperation in the Indo-Pacific in the face of China’s growing military assertiveness in the region, people aware of the matter said.
Following the talks on Friday, Dutton asserted that India’s involvement is “essential to Australia’s Indo-pacific strategy”. “We share one of the world’s important oceans. We both want a stable, resilient, secure and strategic neighbourhood,” Dutton said in his address to mediapersons.
Both India and Australia are part of Quadrilateral Security Dialogue group or the Quad that resolved to work towards ensuring a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific. The other two members of the Quad are the US and Japan. Its first inklings go back to 2007 but a recent resurgence is largely seen as an initiative to post-pandemic recovery and maritime security across the Indo-Pacific.
The heads of the member states of Quad group are scheduled to meet in Washington DC on September 23 ahead of the UN General Assembly.
The people cited above said expanding bilateral cooperation in areas of maritime security is expected to be another area of focus at the two-plus-two dialogue.
The dialogue between the foreign and defence ministers was instituted as part of an overall goal to expand strategic cooperation between the two countries.
India has such a framework for talks with a very few countries including the US and Japan.
The defence and military cooperation between India and Australia has been on an upswing in the last few years.
In June last year, India and Australia elevated their ties to a comprehensive strategic partnership and signed a landmark deal for reciprocal access to military bases for logistics support during an online summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Australian counterpart Scott Morrison.
The Australian Navy was part of the recent Malabar naval exercise that also featured navies of India, the US and Japan.