Albanese in India: A Reflection of Growing India-Australia Ties

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese made a four-day visit to India last month. Following his meeting with Modi, Albanese tweeted, “We’ve forged a deeper connection between our two nations – from education and culture to defense and trade.” In his turn, Modi said that the two leaders had “a detailed discussion on maritime security in the Indo-Pacific region, and increasing mutual defense and security cooperation.” Modi also recalled the many agreements between the two countries, including the logistics agreement that facilitates mutual support for the two armed forces, and spoke about the General Rawat Officers Exchange Program that began in February 2023. Another issue of great importance to the two countries in the current international context was the establishment of “reliable and robust global supply chains.” Supply chain resilience has become a critical agenda in many of India’s bilateral and minilateral conversations including the Australia-India-Japan trilateral. While visiting the aircraft carrier, Albanese characterized India as a “top-tier security partner” of Australia and remarked that “there has never been a point in both of our countries’ histories where we’ve had such a strong strategic alignment.” He also appreciated the Indian military joining the multinational Talisman Sabre war games in Australia in July-August. Maritime security being a major agenda for the two Indo-Pacific powers, Albanese noted that “the Indian Ocean is central to both countries’ security and prosperity.