With focus on Indo-Pacific, India & Australia assert need for stronger defence, trade ties

NEW DELHI: The need for stronger defence, security and trade ties dominated the India-Australia summit on Friday with both leaders, PM Narendra Modi and his counterpart Anthony Albanese, calling for a stable, open, inclusive and prosperous Indo-Pacific, a region where Chinese assertiveness remains a source of anxiety for many countries.
Albanese was in India on his way to the US where President Joe Biden will host the Australian and UK leaders to formalise the AUKUS security pact which will have Australia operating nuclear-powered submarines to defend the “rules-based international order” in the region from Chinese aggression, even as it looks to improve ties with Beijing.
While the two leaders didn’t specifically refer to the Ukraine situation in their media remarks, a joint statement later said they expressed concern about the conflict and humanitarian situation there, reiterating the need for a peaceful resolution. Unlike the last summit though, which was held virtually in March 2022 with Albanese’s predecessor Scott Morrison, the joint statement didn’t mention UN Charter, international law and respect for sovereignty and the territorial integrity of States in the context of Ukraine.

The focus was more on the Indo-Pacific with Albanese saying he and PM Modi held discussions on the prevailing global uncertainties and committed to defence and security cooperation to address shared challenges and work towards, a stable, open and prosperous Indo-Pacific where, as both countries said in their joint statement, sovereignty, territorial integrity and rules-based order are respected.

Asked about the controversy over the BBC documentary on Modi, Albanese said Australia stands up for press freedom but “India is a great democracy, and to dismiss that is, I think, wrong”. “Where there are differences or issues to be raised, we raise them privately and appropriately,” he said.
Albanese welcomed the upcoming Malabar exercise which Australia will host in August and also increased information-sharing in defence with India, including in maritime domain. While it’s not officially a Quad exercise, it will see participation by all its member countries. Albanese invited the PM for the Quad summit that Australia will host in May.

Modi said security cooperation was an important pillar of the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between the two countries and that they had a detailed discussion on maritime security in the Indo-Pacific region and increasing mutual defence and security cooperation.
On trade, Albanese said both leaders wanted an early conclusion of the ambitious Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement and he was hopeful the deal will be finalised this year.