On May 22, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Sydney (Australia), beginning a 3-day visit to this allied country in the Quad group (including the US, Japan, India and Australia).
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| Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is welcomed by the Indian community in Sydney, Australia on May 22. (Source: Twitter) |
This is the final stop on Mr Modi's tour of the Asia-Pacific, seeking closer defence and security ties with Australia to help ensure a "free and open" Indo-Pacific region.
Hours earlier, Prime Minister Modi held a summit with 14 leaders of South Pacific nations in Papua New Guinea.
In an interview with The Australian , referring to China's increasingly assertive claims of sovereignty in many places in the Indo-Pacific region, Prime Minister Modi said that the tense situation in the region makes India's partnership with Australia "more important than ever".
The leader expressed his confidence that together with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese "we will have the opportunity to explore ways to take the bilateral relationship to a new level. Identify new areas of mutual complementarity and expand cooperation."
Prime Minister Modi last visited Australia in 2014. He said that since that visit, bilateral relations have “fundamentally transformed” with annual summits, economic cooperation, trade agreements and the elevation of relations to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.
“We have made significant progress in the areas of defence, security, investment, education, health and culture. People-to-people exchanges remain a strong pillar of our bilateral relationship,” Prime Minister Modi said.
Prime Minister Modi and his counterpart Albanese are expected to address a large Indian community at Olympic Park on May 23 (local time), followed by bilateral talks between the two leaders on May 24.
Indians are the second largest diaspora community in Australia with 673,000 people. New Delhi considers the diaspora the most important link in the India-Australia bilateral trade relationship.
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