Improving India-Australia military ties, including those connecting the defence industry, will be a key part of discussions when Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Australian PM Anthony Albanese meet for the annual leaders’ summit.
Australian Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Richard Marles gave out the expected focus of the talks that are likely in the next couple of months.
Marles, who is in India for the second India–Australia Defence Ministers’ Dialogue, was speaking to a select group of media persons after the dialogue he had with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh here in New Delhi.
“Defence will be a key part of the discussions that our Prime Ministers undertake, because in their previous summits, defence has been very central,” said Marles.
The two PM’s have directed us as Defence Ministers to work in respect of the defence relationship. “We are near to finalisation of a renewal and strengthening of the Joint Declaration on Defence and Security Cooperation”, Marles added.
There has been significant progress on the Joint Maritime Security Collaboration Roadmap, and that is important in the context of the upcoming Prime Ministerial Summit. Australia values its defence relationship with India. “It is going from strength to strength,” the visiting minister said.
Australia and India have discussed establishing an information-sharing agreement and we’ve now seen really significant cooperation from our respective defence intelligence organisations over the last six months.
The defence industry is absolutely a key part of the conversation that we had today. “There has been really significant progress in respect of the defence industry in relation to our two countries,” Marles said.
The two sides are looking at a range of options to increase cooperation and integration of their respective supply chains.
“Actually, we come out of today’s meeting with a much greater sense of optimism about what we can do… It benefits in terms of the Australian industry being able to supply here, but it very much sees benefits in terms of utilising the Indian supply chain, using the Indian defence industry to help contribute to our capability as well,” the minister said.
