Seeking to enhance India’s military ties with Australia, Defence Minister A K Antony arrived in Perth on Tuesday on a historic visit to co-chair a bilateral security dialogue amid “profound” strategic changes in the Asia-Pacific region.
He is scheduled to attend the Australia-India Defence Ministers’ dialogue with his counterpart Stephen Smith, to be held in the Canberra on Wednesday.
Antony, who is the first ever Indian Defence Minister to visit Australia, landed in the western city of Perth and met Smith and was also greeted at a reception attended by prominent members of Western Australian and Indian academic, business and community organisations.
“I look forward to hosting Minister Antony in Perth, Australia’s ‘Indian Ocean capital’. The city is home to several significant Australian Defence Force establishments, including Australia’s Indian Ocean Naval Base, HMAS Stirling,” Smith said.
The two Ministers were to fly together to Canberra later on Tuesday.
“Antony and I will travel together to Canberra. In Canberra, we will conduct the Australia-India Defence Ministers’ Dialogue. It will be the second time that Minister Antony and I have conducted the dialogue,” he said.
His visit comes days after Australian government released a defence white paper recently which noted that, “India is emerging as an important strategic, diplomatic and economic actor, ‘looking east,’ and becoming more engaged in regional frameworks.”