New Delhi: The second India-Australia virtual summit will begin on Monday with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Australian counterpart Scott Morrison discussing a roadmap on new initiatives to enhance cooperation between the two countries in diverse fields.
According to news agency ANI, the two sides are expected to sign the biggest ever trade deal with Canberra to announce investment of Rs 1,500 crore in several sectors in India. An early harvest agreement is also expected between the two countries by the end of this month.
What are the areas of focus at the summit?
This means that an early harvest agreement would help liberalize tariffs on the trade of certain goods between two countries or trading blocs before a broader agreement.
Among all the trade agreements, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) will be signed in the field of critical minerals which, according to ANI, will help increase India’s access to metallic coal and lithium in Australia and will help in the need for electric vehicles and growing infrastructure. Will meet the growing demand. report good.
Besides this, Union Minister of Coal and Mines, Pralhad Joshi, will visit Australia soon, according to ANI sources.
What was the 2021 initiative between the two countries?
The leaders will also take stock of the progress made on various initiatives under the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership signed at the virtual summit in June 2020.
Modi had a bilateral meeting with PM Morrison in Washington DC in September 2021 on the sidelines of the Quad Leaders Summit. The two leaders met again in November last year on the sidelines of the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland.
Morrison addressed the Bengaluru Tech Summit in November and announced the Australia-India Center of Excellence for Critical and Emerging Technology Policy. He has also hinted at setting up a new Consulate General in Bengaluru, while Modi delivered the keynote address at the Sydney Dialogue on India’s Technology Development and Revolution on 18 November.
The two countries also engaged in ministerial level talks along with 2+2 foreign and defense ministerial talks.
Australian Foreign Minister Maris Payne and Defense Minister Peter Dutton met Indian counterparts S Jaishankar and Rajnath Singh in New Delhi in September for the first India-Australia 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue.
The previous summit delivered eight landmark agreements to drive India-Australia cooperation, including a Joint Declaration on Maritime Cooperation in the Indo-Pacific, Mutual Logistics Support Agreement (MLSA) and several Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on cooperation in various fields including cyber were involved. Technology, Mining, Defense Cooperation, Public Administration and Water Resources Management.