Julie Bishop, Foreign Affairs Minister of Australia said that India and Australia need to take on a greater leadership role in bringing stability and rules based order in the Indian Ocean region.
Bishop, who is on a two-day visit to India, held meetings with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Finance and Defence Minister Arun Jaitley and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj during the day.
“India is a natural leader in the Indian Ocean. We need to step up our bilateral cooperation. India and Australia are vibrant societies and need to boost prosperity in the region. We need to ensure greater leadership in the Indian Ocean Region Association to successfully implement a rules based order,” Bishop said at an event - The Second Indo-Pacific Oration - organised by ORF.
She also hoped that both India and Australia take the next leap in realising the full potential of bilateral trade. India and Australia have been discussing a Free Trade Agreement for over six years now.
“There has to be benefits to our respective economies,” she said adding the Australia is also working with India on the multilateral Regional Cooperation Economic Partnership (RCEP).
“We need to remove trade barriers to integrate our economies. We support diversified international trade,” she added.
She said it is in services sector and agriculture where India and Australia need to benefit from through the proposed FTA. She also said another area where both sides need to work together with greater sharing of intelligence and information is that of counterterrorism.
She also referred to the South China Sea disputes and states that China should respect the international rules based order.
“Our objective must be to encourage China in upholding rules based order and we cannot let their economy to falter,” she said.
She also said UNCLOS has to be respected by all countries at any cost and Australia continues to resist building of islands and reefs in South China Sea.
She also said Australia has consistently supported India as a permanent member of a reformed UNSC to reflect problems of the modern world. She hailed India’s initiative to build connectivity with ASEAN as that is of importance to Australia as well.