State Visit of Prime Minister of Australia to India

What’s in today’s article?

• Why in news?
• News Summary: State Visit of Prime Minister of Australia to India
• List of Outcomes: State Visit of Prime Minister of Australia to India
• Other highlights of the State Visit of Prime Minister of Australia to India
• Why is there growing synergy between India and Australia?

 

Why in News?

• The Prime Minister of Australia, Anthony Albanese, paid a State Visit to India.
  • ​This was Albanese’s first visit to India in his current role.
• During the visit, PM Modi and PM Albanese held the Annual Summit to discuss areas of cooperation under the India-Australia Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.
  • The Strategic Partnership between the two countries was elevated to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in June 2020.

 

News Summary: State Visit of Prime Minister of Australia to India

• During this visit, PM Albanese and PM Modi participated in the 1^st India-Australia Annual Summit.
• This was the first Annual Summit between India and Australia at the level of the Leaders. 
  • The summit mechanism itself was established as an outcome of the 2nd Virtual Summit that was held in March 2022.

 

List of Outcomes: State Visit of Prime Minister of Australia to India

• Joint Statement of First India-Australia Annual Summit was released
• Audiovisual Co-production Agreement between the two countries was signed.
• A MoU on Cooperation in Sports was signed.
• The two sides agreed on the establishment of two task forces one on solar (solar task force) and second on Green Hydrogen.
• Letter of Intent was signed between India's Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) and the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation for Furthering Cooperation in Innovation.

 

Other highlights of the State Visit of Prime Minister of Australia to India

• Cricket Diplomacy
  • PM Modi and PM Albanese went to the Narendra Modi stadium in Ahmedabad, where India and Australia were playing the fourth test match of the Border-Gavaskar series.
• Business Delegation
  • The Australian prime minister brought with him a huge delegation of business leaders.
  • This assumes significance as the business relations between the two countries have not taken off fully.
    • Australian businesses have mainly concentrated on China, which buys about a third of Australia’s exports. 
    • Despite concerns about China, Australia’s economy is closely tied to that country.
    • Australia is now trying to wean its economy away from China.
• First foreign leader to visit INS Vikrant
  • During the current visit, PM Albanese became the first foreign leader to visit INS Vikrant, India’s locally built aircraft carrier.
  • While visiting INS Vikrant, Albanese said: For Australia, India is a top security partner. 
• Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) 
  • India and Australia discussed the finalisation of a Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA).
  • CECA is aimed at upgrading an interim trade deal finalised last year in the form of Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (ECTA).
    • The entry into force of ECTA (entered into force December 2022) eliminated tariffs on more than 85% of Australian exports to India.
  • The two also decided to move ahead with negotiations on a migration and mobility pact to benefit students and professionals.
    • India and Australia recently finalized a mechanism for recognising each other’s educational qualifications.
    • In this context, the mobility agreement will benefit students, workers and professionals.
• India was invited to join the Talisman Sabre exercises
  • Australia invited India to join the Talisman Sabre exercises later this year, a major operation for the Australian Defence Force.
• General Rawat Australia-India Young Defence Officers’ Exchange Programme
  • As part of General Rawat Australia-India Young Defence Officers’ Exchange Programme, a 15-member Australian contingent, visited the Agra-based Military establishment. 
    • This programme was instituted in honour of India’s first Chief of Defence Staff, General Bipin Rawat.

 

Why is there growing synergy between India and Australia?

• China Factor
  • Ties between Australia and China were strained after Canberra in 2018 banned Chinese telecom firm Huawei from the 5G network. 
  • Later, it called for an inquiry into the origins of Covid-19, and slammed China’s human rights record in Xinjiang.
  • China responded by imposing trade barriers on Australian exports, and by cutting off all ministerial contact.
  • On the other hand, India has been facing an aggressive Chinese military along the border.
• Centrality of Indian Ocean for both the countries
  • The Indian Ocean is central for the security and prosperity of both the countries.
  • Both the countries depend on free and open access to sea lanes in the Indo-Pacific for trade and economic well-being.
• Economic imperative
  • Australia is looking to diversify its economic relation which is heavily dependent on China.
    • India, being a fast growing economy with a large market, is an attractive destination for Australia.
  • India, on the other hand, wants to increase economic cooperation in the form of bilateral free trade agreements with countries across India-Pacific.
    • This is because India has not joined the RCEP (Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership).
    • It wants to compensate for the loss of not joining the RCEP by signing multiple bilateral FTAs with countries in the region.

 

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Q1) Where is Australia located?

Australia is located in the southern hemisphere and is the world's smallest continent, as well as the world's largest island. It is situated between the Indian and Pacific oceans, and is bordered by the countries of Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and East Timor to the north, and by New Zealand to the southeast. 

 

Q2) What is RCEP?

RCEP stands for Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership. It is a proposed free trade agreement (FTA) between 16 Asia-Pacific countries, namely the ten members of ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) - Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam - plus China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, and New Zealand.

 

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Source: India a top-tier security partner, open Indo-Pacific is our need: Australia PM | Ministry of External Affairs | Hindustan Times | Outlook