Melbourne [Australia], July 7 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be in Australia on Wednesday as part of his three nation visit. This is PM Modi's third visit to Australia, and he will be visiting Melbourne after a gap of 12 years. His last visit to Melbourne was in November 2014 and his last visit to Australia was in May 2023.
Indian High Commissioner to Australia Nagesh Singh says this visit by the Prime Minister will see several outcomes emerge during his meetings with Australian PM Albanese.
"The third annual leader's summit for which the Prime Minister's coming to Melbourne has a very comprehensive agenda. If you remember in 2022, we had signed the comprehensive strategic partnership between our two countries and this is an opportunity for the two Prime Ministers to take stock of where we are today in terms of our strategic partnership and also to give us directions on the path we want to take ahead. And you know, India-Australia relations today are one of the fastest growing and most consequential of our partnerships with any other country. There will be several outcomes and you will see them when they are announced after the leaders meet... It'll cover the entire gamut of our relationship from defence and security to trade and investment, to people-to-people connect on clean technologies, new and other critical technologies which are coming out, people-to-people connect, education," he said.
The High Commissioner says that India and Australia have converging interests. The visit will be a major boost to India's MAHASAGAR and Indo-pacific vision: It will further cement ties between two QUAD partners who are playing greater roles in the Indo-Pacific, bringing new opportunities and prosperity for people and countries, especially the Small Island Developing States.
"That relationship is a very strong one and growing rapidly. If you ask me, it's one of the most rapidly growing aspects of our bilateral relations and like I have said earlier, our geopolitical interests converge. We want a free, open, inclusive, rule-based Indo-Pacific region. Our armed forces carry out several exercises with each other bilaterally. There are delegation-level talks, staff-level talks as they are called between all the three armed forces. There are many other aspects of our defence and security cooperation, maritime domain awareness, etcetera. So there will be some progress in that," said Nagesh Singh.
"We signed the ECTA, the Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement, in 2022. Since then, our bilateral trade has gone up by 25%. It's crossed almost 50 billion, it's about 54 billion Australian dollars. But it's way below the potential given the size and dynamism of both our economies. We are negotiating a Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement which is a very complicated kind of an agreement which is being negotiated. We haven't finished it yet, but there will be some progress and hopefully sooner than later, we'll arrive at a conclusion. But this visit will be more about reviewing where we are in terms of our trade and investment relationship and the CECA as it's called, will open up many vistas for both countries in terms of a very deep partnership in the economic and commercial front," he added.
During his visit the PM will be addressing the CEOs forum. The PM's visit will also give a boost to business ties and partnership in areas such as critical minerals and supply chain.
"That is again another discussion which is going on as you know, Australia is rich in critical minerals and the rare earths. India has a huge demand for that given our own ambitions of energy transition. We are working, there are discussions happening at the B2B level, G2G level. There'll be some discussions here also when the Prime Ministers meet. I mean, the leaders don't go into the nitty-gritty of things, they just give a general direction. So that's one area of futuristic area, already discussions are happening, but it's a futuristic area where you'll see greater cooperation and partnership. Not just a buyer-seller relationship, but also more value addition, processing," Nagesh Singh said.
In an important event signifying the diaspora connect the PM will be addressing a large community event. The Indian diaspora in Australia has become an important pillar of our bilateral relationship. Indian origin people now make up almost one million of all Australians.
"Victoria, Melbourne hosts the largest proportion of Indian diaspora in Australia and the Prime Minister will be addressing a community event here in the Marvel Arena. It's expected somewhere between 25,000 to 30,000 people would be participating. There's great enthusiasm and excitement as you know, wherever our Prime Minister goes, there is a demand for the people to see him, to listen to his words and his encouragement. And for this event, I know people are coming from all over Australia, not just from the state of Victoria, but from all over Australia. The demand was huge, but given the limitations of the venue, everyone could not be accommodated, but I'm sure they'll watch on television. Prime Minister Albanese is also going to be there, so both the Prime Ministers will be addressing and it's a very important event because it shows the importance we attach to the bond which the one-million-strong Indian diaspora provides between our two countries," said Nagesh Singh.
Prime Minister Modi is also expected to visit the Melbourne Cricket Ground a key site for India-Australia battles on the Cricket field. India's High Commission says there are several aspects of Sports on which both nations are looking to partner.
"Sport is another pillar of our bilateral relationship. While cricket dominates that, but there are many other aspects of sports which we want to partner Australia with in the sense that Australia is a sporting superpower. If you look at the performance of Australian athletes in other sports, in track and field, etcetera. So how do we work together and develop the sporting ecosystem in both our countries? Whether it's sports medicine, sports technologies, sports management, sporting infrastructure. Australia will be hosting the Olympics in Brisbane in 2032, I think, and we have ambitions of hosting our own, bidding for the Olympics in 2036. We are hosting the Commonwealth Games in 2030. So it's a very comprehensive sporting agenda and that's what that event is about, to highlight that we are going beyond cricket and hockey, which we normally play, into other aspects. And it's not just about sporting events for the audience or the people who come and watch them, but it's also about a whole economic aspect of sports. So that's the whole idea of that event," he said.
The PM is expected to arrive in Melbourne on Wednesday and in a rare departure from established protocols, Governor-General of Australia Sam Mostyn AC will travel to Melbourne to meet PM Modi, signifying the maturity of the bilateral relations of the two nations.