During the virtual summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Australian counterpart Scott Morrison, Ukraine did come up. However, the two leaders said that the focus on Indo-Pacific remains
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Australian counterpart Scott Morrison held their second virtual summit on Monday. The first India-Australia virtual summit was held on 4 June, 2020, when the relationship between the tow nations was elevated to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.
Here are the top takeaways from the meet:
Economic revival, education, and more
Delving into key aspects of India-Australia ties, Modi said that the conclusion of the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) will be important for economic revival and economic security for both sides.
“We have good cooperation going on in Quad as well. This collaboration of ours reflects our commitment to free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific. The success of the Quad is critical to regional and global stability,” he said.
Modi also thanked his Australian counterpart for the initiative to return 29 Indian antiquities.
“I would like to especially thank you for taking the initiative to return ancient Indian artefacts. Among them are hundreds of years old idols and pictures illegally removed from Rajasthan, West Bengal, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh along with many other Indian states,” he said.
Modi said that the ties witnessed remarkable progress in the last few years and there has been close cooperation between the two sides in trade and investment, defence and security, education and innovation, and science and technology.
“Our collaboration has grown rapidly in many other areas such as critical minerals, water management, renewable energy, and COVID-19 research,” he added.
Modi said that he was happy over the establishment of a mechanism of the annual summit between the two countries, as it ensures a structural system for regular review of the ties.
The prime minister also referred to the situation in eastern Ladakh and emphasised that peace and tranquility in the region was essential for normalisation of India’s ties with China.
Morrison brings up Ukraine
Russia needs to be held accountable for the tragic loss of lives in Ukraine in the ongoing war, and it must be ensured that such terrible events never occur in the Indo-Pacific region, Morrison told Modi in his opening remark.
“I very much want to thank you for the partnership that we had while we are obviously distressed at the terrible situation in Europe. Our focus, of course, is very much on what is occurring in the Indo-Pacific and ensuring that those events never occur here in the Indo-Pacific,” Morrison said.
He also referred to a recent meeting of the leaders of the Quad grouping on the Ukraine crisis and said it provided an opportunity to discuss the “implications and consequences” of the developments in Europe for the Indo-Pacific.
“The tragic loss of lives underlines the importance, of course, of holding Russia to account. The cooperation between like-minded liberal democracies is key to an open, inclusive, resilient and prosperous Indo-Pacific and I welcome your leadership within the Quad to keeping its focus on those important issues,” Morrison said.
Besides, he said the comprehensive strategic partnership between India and Australia reflected the ambition that both shared and hold for the relationship.
“The pace and scale of the cooperation have been remarkable,” he said, adding that “our ambition is to make it even closer”.
With input from agencies
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