After Prime Minister Narendra Modi raised concerns over the vandalism of Hindu temples in Australia during their bilateral meeting, his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese assured that the safety and security of Australia’s Indian community is a “priority for them”, reported The Indian Express.
Albanese and Modi jointly addressed the press at Hyderabad House in New Delhi on Friday, following a meeting of the two leaders. Albanese on Wednesday arrived in Ahmedabad on a state visit to India from March 8-11.
“Matter of regret that reports have come regularly from Australia in the last few weeks about attacks on temples…it is natural that such news makes people in India worried,” PM Modi said.
“I have conveyed this to PM Albanese and he has assured me that the safety and well-being of the Indian community in Australia is a priority for them,” he added.
India and Australia exchanged Memorandum of Understandings (MoUs) linked to sports and audio-visual co-production as well as terms of reference for Solar Taskforce.
The Australian PM also met External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar today.
At the bilateral meeting, the two politicians discussed defence and security cooperation between the two countries. “I welcome increased defence information sharing between Australia and India including in the maritime domain. We also discussed exercise Malabar, which Australia is honoured to be hosting this year,” Albanese said.
This is Albanese’s first bilateral visit to India since he entered office in May last year. Later in the day, the Australian Prime Minister called on President Droupadi Murmu at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.