New Delhi [India], May 27 (ANI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday met Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong and discussed the growing India-Australia Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.
In a post on X, PM Modi said that India and Australia will continue to work for a free, open, secure and prosperous Indo-Pacific.
“Happy to receive Senator Penny Wong, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Australia. We discussed the growing India-Australia Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in areas such as defence, trade, technology and ensuring supply chain resilience. India and Australia will continue to work for a free, open, secure and prosperous Indo-Pacific,” PM Modi said.
Penny Wong, who took part in the Quad Foreign Ministers’ meeting, later said the grouping is taking forward a number of new initiatives.
“At every meeting that we have had, we have been focused on momentum and on making sure we deliver outcomes which are real… Our obligation and responsibility is to provide real choices, particularly as strategic circumstances in our region (Indo-Pacific) are deteriorating. The region is facing acute economic stress… we know the consequences for our region of the Iranian closure of the Strait of Hormuz, and what that means for our energy security,” she said.
“We recognise the efforts of Secretary Rubio towards a diplomatic resolution to ensure freedom of navigation is restored. We recognise the importance of maintaining the principle of freedom of navigation and our opposition to any tolling proposition. The Quad is today taking forward a number of new initiatives, an energy security initiative,” she added.
The Australian Foreign Minister also talked about the Quad Ports of the Future Partnership.
“We are also today announcing the strongest ever commitment from the Quad to the Pacific through the Quad Ports of the Future Partnership where we are launching a pilot for port infrastructure in Fiji… In addition, we are focusing on what more we can do to ensure a transparent, more secure maritime domain in the Indo-Pacific… And you are seeing that we will be coordinating our maritime surveillance efforts initially in the Indian Ocean and at exercise Malabar through the Indo-Pacific Maritime Surveillance Collaboration Initiative,” she said.
“We are also expanding the domain awareness initiative to the Indian Ocean. This will enable partners to access near-real-time unclassified satellite tracking data to combat illegal fishing trafficking and also enable us to better support humanitarian disaster response… We are also working together to strengthen cooperation against scam centres, particularly in South East Asia, building law enforcement capacity and deepening cyber cooperation… We know we work better in partnership across our region,” she added.
Interacting with the media later said, Penny Wong said Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has stated that PM Modi would visit Australia in the near future.
“My Prime Minister has today announced that Prime Minister Modi will visit Australia in the very near future. We look forward to that visit”.
She hailed the ties between the two countries and underlined how they share a vision of a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific.
“We want to work together for our region and for our people”, Wong said.”We (India-Australia) are comprehensive strategic partners. We have a relationship that is anchored in strategic trust. We have a great deal of strategic alignment. And our economic ties continue to deepen. India is the world’s fastest-growing major economy. It’s an essential economic partner for Australia. As we seek to diversify supply chains and grow our economy and our productivity, this relationship only grows”, Wong noted. (ANI)
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