With China asserting itself in the Indo-Pacific, India and Australia on Friday stressed the importance of free, open and inclusive, and rule-based order, including economic growth, in the region. The two countries also expressed concern over the plight of women and children and violation of human rights in Afghanistan after the Taliban took control.
These crucial points emerged from the bilateral talks between visiting Australian Defence Minister Peter Dutton and his Indian counterpart Rajnath Singh here. The two leaders will take part in the first 2+2 dialogue on Saturday along with the foreign ministers of their respective countries. S Jaishankar will represent India while Marise Payne will lead the Australian delegation.
The two Defence Ministers reviewed the security situation in the Indo-Pacific against the backdrop of China flexing its maritime muscle there. The two leaders also held wide-ranging discussions on bilateral defence cooperation.
With uncertainty prevailing in Afghanistan and reported human rights violations, the two leaders urged the international community to make efforts to implement UN resolution 2593, sources said.
The resolution passed last month by the United Nations Security Council(UNSC)under the presidentship of India said the Afghan territory should not be used to threaten or attack any country or to shelter and train terrorists and plan or finance terrorist attacks.
India has all along also called for protecting the minorities including the Sikhs and Hindus in Afghanistan. Also, it has expressed concern over the presence of the Lashkar-e-Tayyaba(LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammad(JeM) there.
Summing up the gist of his interaction with Dutton, Rajnath said both the countries are keen to work jointly to realise the full potential of the India-Australia Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.
“”This partnership is based on our shared vision of free, open, inclusive and rule-based Indo-Pacific region. Both, Australia and India have tremendous stakes in peace, development and free flow of trade, rules-based order and economic growth in the region,””he said.
The discussion on Friday focused on bilateral defence cooperation and expanding military engagements across Services, enhancing defence information sharing, cooperation in emerging defence technologies and mutual logistics support, Rajnath said.
“”Both sides noted with happiness that Australia joined the Malabar Exercise in 2020. In this context we also expressed satisfaction in the continued participation of Australia in Malabar Exercise this year,””he said.
Australia joined the Quad navies in the Malabar series of exercise last year off the Indian Coast and in the Western Pacific last month. At present, the navies of India and Australia are engaged in a bilateral naval drill of the Australia.
Quad group includes India, US, Japan and Australia. China took exception of the Malabar series exercises last year and claimed these drills will lead to the militarisation of the Indo-Pacific region.
Meanwhile, Rajnath also said he invited Australian industry to take advantage of India's liberalised foreign direct investment policies in the defence sector. “”We both agreed that there are opportunities of bilateral collaboration for co-development and co production,””he said.
Rajnath also said underlined that India is committed to building a robust partnership with Australia for security and growth of the entire region.
In his remarks, the Australian defence minister said India's leadership is essential to Australia's Indo-pacific strategy. “”We share one of the world's important oceans. We both want a stable, resilient, secure and strategic neighbourhood,””he said.
As regards the 2+2 dialogue on Saturday, this framework was instituted as part of an overall goal to expand strategic cooperation between the two countries. India has such dialogues with the US and Japan.
India and Australia last year signed a landmark deal for reciprocal access to military bases for logistics support during an online summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Australian counterpart Scott Morrison.
Ministry of external affairs(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.
"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.