Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will embark on his first official visit to India this month, with the objective of strengthening bilateral ties in various domains such as trade, investment, and crucial minerals.
PM Modi, Albanese to travel to Ahmedabad, watch test match between their countries
According to insiders familiar with the itinerary, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is anticipated to commence his trip around March 8, during which he and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi may journey to Ahmedabad to watch the fourth cricket Test match between their countries.
The fourth Test is slated to take place in Ahmedabad from March 9-13, coinciding with Albanese's first trip to India since becoming Prime Minister in May of last year.
This will also be the first instance of PM Modi watching a cricket match at the stadium after it was renamed after him.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar visited Australia last month ostensibly to prepare for the visit to India by the Australian prime minister.
There is no official announcement of the visit yet.
Expansion of cooperation in Indo-Pacific expected
However, Albanese mentioned about his visit to India in a tweet after meeting Jaishankar.
"It was wonderful to meet with @DrSJaishankar his morning ahead of my trip to India next month. We discussed our strategic partnership, economic opportunities and the people-to-people ties that enrich our nations," he tweeted.
The people said expansion of cooperation in the Indo-Pacific in the backdrop of China's growing military muscle-flexing in the region is expected to figure in the talks during the Australian prime minister's visit to India.
They said boosting trade, investment and critical minerals will figure high on the agenda of talks between Prime Minister Modi and Albanese.
The ties between India and Australia have been on an upswing in the last few years. The India-Australia Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (ECTA) came into force in December and it is expected to facilitate significant expansion of two-way trade.
Defence and security ties between India and Australia have been on an upswing in the last few years.
India and Australia's diplomatic relations in recent times
In June 2020, India and Australia elevated their ties to a comprehensive strategic partnership and signed a landmark deal for reciprocal access to military bases for logistics support.
The Mutual Logistics Support Agreement (MLSA) allows the militaries of the two countries to use each other's bases for repair and replenishment of supplies, besides facilitating scaling up of overall defence cooperation.
In August last year, four Sukhoi-30 MKI fighter jets and two C-17 heavy-lift aircraft of the Indian Air Force joined a 17-nation air combat exercise in Australia.
Over 100 aircraft and 2,500 personnel from Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Indonesia, India, Japan, Malaysia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the Philippines, Republic of Korea, the UAE, Singapore, Thailand, the US and the UK participated in the exercise in Australia's Northern Territory.
Australia is set to host the Malabar naval exercise later this year. It will involve the navies of India, Australia, Japan and the US.
