Second India-Australia virtual summit begins

The second India-Australia virtual summit began in New Delhi on Monday amid indications that discussion will seek to lay the roadmap for new initiatives to enhance cooperation in a diverse range of sectors between the two countries. During the summit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Australian counterpart Scott Morrison are expected to commit to closer cooperation in trade, critical minerals, migration and mobility, and education, among others.

The summit is expected to witness the largest ever trade pact by the Australian government in India with Canberra set to announce investments worth Rs 1,500 crore in India across multiple sectors. The two countries are also expected to conclude an early harvest agreement by the end of this month.

An early harvest agreement is aimed at liberalising tariffs on the trade of certain goods between two countries or trading blocs before a comprehensive agreement. As per sources, the two countries will sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in the field of critical minerals, which will help increase India's access to metallic coal and lithium in Australia and cater to India's growing demand for electric vehicles and growing infrastructure.

Further, the Union Minister of Coal and Mines in India, Pralhad Joshi, will visit Australia soon, as per the sources. The Summit follows the historic first Virtual Summit in June 2020 when the relationship between India and Australia was elevated to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. During the upcoming virtual summit, the leaders will take stock of progress made on various initiatives under the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.

The previous summit delivered eight landmark agreements to drive India-Australia cooperation, which included a joint declaration on Maritime Cooperation in the Indo-Pacific, Mutual Logistics Support Agreement (MLSA) and multiple Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) on cooperation in various fields, including cyber technology, mining, defence cooperation, public administration and water resources management. Recently, in September 2021 Prime Minister Modi had held a bilateral meeting with PM Morrison in Washington DC on the sidelines of the Quad Leaders' Summit.

The two leaders met again in November of last year on the occasion of the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland. PM Morrison also addressed the Bengaluru Tech Summit on November 17 of that year, where he announced the new Australia-India Centre of Excellence for Critical and Emerging Technology Policy and the intention to establish a new Consulate General in Bengaluru, while his Indian counterpart PM Modi delivered the keynote address at the Sydney Dialogue, on India's technology evolution and revolution on November 18. The cooperation between the two countries has also been carried forward at the ministerial level, with the 2+2 Foreign and Defence Ministerial Dialogue.

Australia's Foreign Minister Marise Payne and Minister for Defence Peter Dutton met their Indian counterparts S Jaishankar and Rajnath Singh in September 2021 in New Delhi for the First India-Australia 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue. Quad has become an important multilateral forum to strengthen cooperation on issues of mutual interests. S Jaishankar visited Australia in February 2022 to attend the 4th Quad Foreign Ministers' meeting in Melbourne on February 11.

Even at the cultural level, the Indian community in Australia continues to grow in size and importance, with a population of about 721,000 in 2020. India is one of the top sources of skilled immigrants to Australia as well as a steady source of students and tourists.