Signifying the growing defence and strategic ties between India and Australia, the two countries will hold the first 2+2 dialogue here for two days starting Friday. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will hold parleys with their Australian counterparts Peter Dutton and Marise Payne.
The dialogue comes at a time when the navies of the two countries are involved in a highly complex naval drill off the Australian coast. Moreover, the two navies, along with the US and Japanese navies some weeks back, took part in the Malabar series of exercises in the Western Pacific. Australian Navy also took part in the Malabar series of exercise off the Indian coast last year underlining the growing relations between the Quad nations comprising these four nations.
Giving details of the forthcoming dialogue, the external affairs ministry(MEA) said here on Thursday, the parleys on September 11 will cover a range of bilateral, regional and global issues of mutual interest.
People familiar with the preparations for the dialogue said the two sides are expected to focus extensively on further ramping up the overall defence and security ties and boost strategic cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region. China has all along opposed the Quad exercises claiming this will lead to militarization of the area. China is flexing its maritime muscle there.
“The inaugural 2+2 ministerial dialogue is being held pursuant to the elevation of India-Australia bilateral relations to comprehensive strategic partnership during the India-Australia leaders’ virtual summit on June 4, 2020,” the MEA said in a statement. “The agenda for the Dialogue will cover a range of bilateral, regional and global issues of mutual interest,” it said.
The focus of the talks at the two-plus-two dialogue is expected to be on boosting overall cooperation in the Indo-Pacific in the face of China’s growing military assertiveness in the region, the people cited above said.
Expanding bilateral cooperation in areas of maritime security is expected to be another area of focus at the two-plus-two dialogue, sources said here.
The two-plus-two dialogue between the foreign and defence ministers was instituted as part of an overall goal to expand strategic cooperation between the two countries.
The defence and military cooperation between India and Australia is on an upswing in the last few years. In June last year, 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 during the online summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Australian counterpart Scott Morrison.