PM Narendra Modi, during a bilateral meeting with his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese on Friday, raised the issue of attacks on Hindu temples in Australia among other things like Indo-Pacific security. 

Both leaders met for the first India-Australia Annual Summit talks at Hyderabad House in New Delhi. During the talks, PM Modi expressed concerns over reports of attacks on temples in Australia. 

“I have conveyed our concern 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. Our teams will be in touch regarding this and cooperate as much as possible with each other,” said PM Modi while addressing a joint press conference after the talks.

Touching upon the field of defence, Modi said they discussed maritime security in the Indo-Pacific region, and increasing mutual defence and security cooperation.

“India and Australia have made remarkable agreements in the last few years, including logistics support for each other’s armies. There is regular and useful exchange of information between our security agencies, and we discussed further strengthening it. Security cooperation is an important pillar of our Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. Today we discussed maritime security in the Indo-Pacific region, and increasing mutual defence and security cooperation,” the PM said, adding they have established General Rawat Officers Exchange Programme this month to increase contact and friendship among “our young soldiers”.

The review of the situation in the Indo-Pacific came amid growing concerns over China's increasing military assertiveness in the region.

Earlier on Thursday, Albanese had tweeted that the Indian Ocean is central to both countries’ security and prosperity. "And we are working together to ensure the Indo-Pacific is open, inclusive, and prosperous."

Even days ahead of his visit, Albanese had said a stronger India-Australia partnership was good for regional stability and that it also meant more trade and investment.

Both the PMs said the teams are working on comprehensive economic agreement.

Australian PM Albanese added they also agreed on an early conclusion of “our ambitious Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement. “I am hopeful that we will be able to finalise it this year,” he said.

While Albanese said he looked forward to welcoming Modi to Australia for the Quad leaders’ summit in May this year, PM Modi said he was looking forward to welcoming his Australian counterpart for his second visit to India later this year — for the G20 summit in Delhi in September.

Modi further said they discussed mutual cooperation to develop reliable and strong global supply chains.

Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said the first India-Australia Annual Summit talks between Prime Ministers Modi and Albanese were held in a restricted format.

The talks “reaffirms the shared commitment towards further deepening of our comprehensive strategic partnership”, said the MEA.

In their talks, PM Modi and Albanese, who arrived in India on Wednesday, focussed on boosting overall bilateral ties in trade and investment, defence, education, renewable energy and critical minerals.

The MEA tweeted that the mechanism of annual summits was institutionalised during the India-Australia virtual summit in March 2022, and that Friday’s talk is a reflection of the ever-expanding engagement between our two countries.

Image courtesy: India Today