NEW DELHI: India and Australia on Monday decided to further strengthen their strategic partnership to deal with “exceptional challenges” in the Indo-Pacific region and across the globe, with special focus on defence cooperation.
At the second India and Australia 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue, the two nations also underscored the importance of further enhancing cooperation in information exchange and maritime domain awareness.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar met Australian Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Richard Marles and Foreign Minister Penny Wong here as part of the ministerial dialogue.
In his opening remarks, Jaishankar said the India-Australia bilateral relationship has grown rapidly in the past one year, at a time when there is increasing uncertainty in the world.
“We are seeing sharper polarisation, deeper stresses and today, while it is important to ensure that the routine is there for the region to feel safer. So, we have to build and act for stability on a daily basis,” he said.
Marles said for both India and Australia, China is the biggest trade partner and also the “biggest security anxiety”, and underscored the need for the two countries to work together.
“We share an ocean and in that sense, we are neighbours, and there has never been a more important time for our two countries to be working together,” Marles said, stressing on the importance of cooperation on maritime domain awareness.
Jaishankar said India and Australia do face “exceptional challenges”, and it is important for both the countries to plan for these exceptions.
“These could be man-made exceptions, these could be HADR (humanitarian assistance and disaster relief) situations where again it is important that we have a culture of cooperation to withstand,” he said.
Singh said the India-Australia partnership will work well not just for the mutual benefit of both the countries but also for the overall peace, security and prosperity of the Indo-Pacific.
He stressed that defence, in particular, has emerged as one of the most important pillars of the India-Australia strategic partnership.
(Agencies)
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