India, Australia Aim To Strengthen Economic, Defence Ties

Anthony Albanese, the prime minister of Australia, will visit India on March 8th in an effort to deepen trade, investment, and defence ties and build on the recent momentum in bilateral relations. Anthony Albanese’s three-day visit, which is the first by an Australian prime minister since 2017, comes days before that of Fumio Kishida, the prime minister of Japan and another member of the so-called Quad grouping that aims to challenge China’s expanding dominance in the Indo-Pacific. Together with Australia and Japan, the Quad includes the United States and India. Australia is slated to host a Quad leaders conference in Sydney later this year. “India and Australia share warm and friendly relations based on common values and democratic principles. The Strategic Partnership between the two countries was elevated to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in June 2020,” the Indian foreign ministry said in a statement ahead of the visit.