- Sunday, May 05, 2024
By: Shubham Ghosh
CHIEFS of navies from India and Australia on Wednesday (18) signed a guidance document to streamline interaction between the two countries at various levels.
In a statement, the Indian Navy said the signing ceremony for the ‘Joint Guidance for the Australia-India Navy to Navy relationship’ document was held via videoconference between Indian Navy chief Admiral Karambir Singh and his Australian counterpart Admiral Michael J Noonan.
According to the navy, the document is aligned to the ‘2020 Comprehensive Strategic Partnership’ agreed to by the prime ministers of both India and Australia and aims to ensure a shared approach to regional and global security challenges, the Navy said.
Both India and Australia are members of the four-nation Quadrilateral Security Dialogue or ‘Quad’ which has irked China. The United States and Japan are the other two members of the group. The four nations are also set to take part in the Malabar naval exercise later this year.
The strengthening of India’s naval ties with Australia also comes at a time when India and China are involved in a military standoff in eastern Ladakh for over 15 months.
The Navy statement said the ‘Joint Guidance’ will “serve as a guideline document to showcase the intent of both the Navies to work together bi/ multi-laterally” and its broad scope is focused on “developing mutual understanding, cooperate for regional security, collaborate in mutually beneficial activities and to develop interoperability”.
The document’s highlights include “close cooperation in regional and multilateral fora” including the Indian Ocean Naval Symposium (IONS), Western Pacific Naval Symposium (WPNS), Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) and Expert Working Groups subordinate to the Association of South East Asian Nations’ Defence Ministers’ Meeting Plus framework.
The Indian and Australian bilateral defence relationship has strengthened over the years and their comprehensive strategic partnership, mutual logistics support agreement, conduct of trilateral maritime security workshop and participation of the Australian navy in Exercise Malabar are “significant milestones which underline the role played by both Navies in bolstering this relationship in recent times,” the navy said.
