- Sunday, April 28, 2024
By: Shubham Ghosh
INDIAN defence minister Rajnath Singh on Friday (10) held wide-ranging talks with his Australian counterpart Peter Dutton with an aim to boost the bilateral strategic ties between the two democracies.
The talks between the two ministers took place a day ahead of the inaugural ‘two-plus-two’ dialogue between the foreign and defence ministers of India and Australia.
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Dutton, along with Australian foreign minister Marise Payne, reached New Delhi the same day for the talks with their respective Indian ministers. The ministers, who stayed in India for three days, were also set to visit their counterparts from countries like Indonesia, South Korea and the US.
An official source said shortly before the meeting between Singh and Dutton that expanding strategic ties would be the focus of the talks between them.
Both India and Australia are members of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue or ‘Quad’ that resolved to work towards ensuring a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific.
Defence and military cooperation between India and Australia are on the upswing in the last few years. In June 2020, New Delhi and Canberra elevated their ties to a comprehensive strategic partnership and signed a landmark deal for reciprocal access to military bases for logistical support during an online summit between Indian prime minister Narendra Modi and his Australian counterpart Scott Morrison.
Australia was part of the recent Malabar naval exercise that also featured navies of the other Quad countries, such as India, the US and Japan.
