India and Australia have common challenges to address in the current complex geopolitical situation, including maritime security, countering terrorism, resilient supply chains and ensuring climate action, external affairs minister S Jaishankar said on Thursday at the 16th India-Australia Foreign Ministers’ Framework Dialogue in Delhi.
“I think it is clearly evident that democracies like India and Australia carry greater responsibility, there are common challenges for us to address...So it is essential that we sustain the strong momentum in our ties, that we deliver tangible outcomes, that we work together to achieve this through shared regional and global priorities,” he said in his opening remarks ahead of discussions with Australian foreign minister Penny Wong.
The dialogue seeks to set the course for a more ambitious, future-focused agenda to take the bilateral partnership into its next phase; the two sides are looking at deepening cooperation across a raft of domains including cyber, trade, maritime security, defence, sports and people-to-people ties.
As India and Australia mark five years of their Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, there has been a remarkable expansion across all pillars of bilateral cooperation including trade and investment, defence and security, education and skills, research and innovation, science and technology, space, energy, and people-to-people links, Jaishankar said.
“The Foreign Ministers’ Framework Dialogue has been one of the key pillars of the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership and it surely reflects the trust, the democratic values, and a common vision for a free, open, and secure Indo-Pacific.”
{{/usCountry}}“The Foreign Ministers’ Framework Dialogue has been one of the key pillars of the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership and it surely reflects the trust, the democratic values, and a common vision for a free, open, and secure Indo-Pacific.”
{{/usCountry}}India and Australia are comprehensive strategic partners who share a vision of a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific, Wong said. “Our two nations have never been closer and in many ways our partnership has never been more consequential,” she added.
Both India and Australia, along with the other Quad nations the US and Japan, stand for a rule-based international order for peace, prosperity and stability in the Indo-Pacific.
The dialogue took place weeks after India and Australia signed three key agreements to deepen their military ties including a pact on information sharing, a memorandum of understanding on submarine search and rescue cooperation and terms of reference on the establishment of joint staff talks between the two armed forces.
The agreements were signed in Canberra on October 9 after defence minister Rajnath Singh held talks with Australian deputy prime minister Richard Marles (who also holds the defence portfolio), with the two leaders reaffirming their shared commitment to deepening defence cooperation in areas including military exercises, maritime security, defence industry collaboration and joint research in science and technology.
“I think today whether it is our large and complex bilateral and multilateral exercises, our interoperability, the work that we do in maritime domain awareness, cyber security — I think it really reflects the confidence in our relationship,” Jaishankar said.
He said he was confident that the ongoing negotiations on the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement will be concluded soon, adding that trade and investment linkages have grown steadily over the years.
“Today’s meeting offers an excellent opportunity for us to not only review the progress achieved, but also to set the agenda and course for the next phase of ties and the recommendations that we would make to our Prime Ministers, I think would be key for them to take into account when they will meet very soon.”
Jaishankar touched upon the skills and education too. “Our universities have provided the lead in creating new formats of innovation. We are very welcoming of many of your universities who are already here, and we hope many more would follow suit, and they have actually I think added a very important dimension to our cooperation in India.”