Next month is set to be the most hectic month as several high level visits including the G20 Foreign Ministers meeting is scheduled to take place in the first week. The Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is arriving in New Delhi in the second week of March.
Expected agenda of his visit
He will have a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the agenda will be various issues of mutual interest. This will be his first visit to India after taking charge of the PM office last May. He is also expected to visit Ahmedabad where he will witness a cricket match between the two countries.
The visit will take place following the G20 Foreign Ministers meeting in New Delhi and also ahead of the QUAD Leaders Summit in Australia later this summer. According to reports in the Japanese media, India will be hosting foreign ministers of QUAD member countries in New Delhi in the first week of March soon after the G20 Foreign Ministers meeting.
The bilateral relations between the two countries have been strengthening and it has reached the level of Strategic Partnership.
Last week External Affairs minister Dr S Jaishankar had called on PM Albanese and he also met his counterpart. The Australian leader later confirmed his travel to India and thanked Prime Minister Modi for the invitation. And, said that he was looking forward to being in India in just a few weeks’ time for the bilateral visit.
The Australian Prime Minister also said that the economic relations between the two countries are important and looked forward to strengthening that as well as security issues.
Bilateral Mechanisms in place
For strengthening bilateral relations between the two countries there are several bilateral mechanisms in place including annual meetings of prime ministers, foreign ministers’ framework dialogue, high-level visits, India-Australia ‘2+2’ foreign secretaries and defence secretaries dialogue and also joint trade and commerce ministerial commission.
Financial Express Online has reported earlier that the focus of the visit next month will also be on the Indo-Pacific Region in view of the growing presence of China in the region, defence and security, trade and economics, as well as new and renewable energy. The leaders will also talk about issues related to IAEA, critical minerals, sustainable development goals (SDG) among other issues.