On PM Modi’s visit to Australia: Delhi to Canberra, a new journey
By Lisa Singh, CEO of the Australia India Institute and Professor Amitabh Mattoo, Professor at the School of International Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Australia, early next week, despite the cancellation of the Quad Summit meeting in Sydney, is illustrative of the importance that New Delhi accords to the bilateral relationship with Canberra. This is Modi’s second visit to Australia since he assumed office. Few relationships have undergone such a dramatic transformation in just about a decade, and even fewer command greater bipartisan support in Canberra.
When we started the Australia India Institute in Melbourne over a decade ago, we were confronted by 60 years of misperception, lack of trust, neglect, missed opportunities and even hostility. Today, we can say a new chapter in India’s relations with Australia has well and truly begun. This partnership will survive the vicissitudes of international politics as it is built on a near-complete convergence of values and interests. For those in Australia who have roots in India, we see a seamless connectivity between the cultural mosaic of Parramatta in Sydney and Polo View in Srinagar. We are at home in both these culturally vibrant, robustly democratic societies and nations.
It has only been two months since Anthony Albanese’s first visit to India as prime minister. The grand welcome for PM Albanese reflected the respect India has for its relationship with Australia. Arriving in Ahmedabad at the time of the festival of Holi, as well as the last match of the test series between the two countries, the timing couldn’t have been better.
Modi’s last visit to Australia in 2014, not long after he had been elected, saw him address record crowds of people from the Indian diaspora. A repeat of that visit is currently being organised by Sydney’s Indian community. It will no doubt prove to be a big event. During PM Modi’s last visit, the Australia India Institute convened a meeting of the most powerful CEOs in Australia and the Indian Prime Minister was accompanied by the who’s who of corporate India.
But touchpoints for these two leaders are not rare these days with interactions occurring on the sides of multilateral, trilateral or minilateral fora including the G7 (where India is a special invitee), the East Asia Summit, the G20, the Indian Ocean Rim Association, just to name a few. In addition, the Quad is regarded as an important forum to ensure peace and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region. Important regional issues for both nations, such as maritime domain awareness, supply chain resilience, climate change and food and energy security drive the Quad. Despite the cancellation of the formal summit, they will find resonance when the leaders meet in Tokyo.
Australia and India have committed to building secure and resilient supply chains essential to clean energy, electric vehicles, semiconductors, aerospace, and defence — all of which are of strategic importance to Quad members. The recent Memorandum of Understanding signed between India’s Khanij Bidesh Ltd (KABIL) and Australia’s Critical Minerals Office will support these commitments.
Space collaboration — another key area highlighted in last year’s Quad Leaders’ Summit in Tokyo — has also been prioritised in the Australia-India bilateral partnership, with Australia participating as a partner country in the Seventh Bengaluru Space Expo and supporting India’s Gaganyaan Space Programme. The first round of Australia’s India-focused International Space Investment grants programme will foster space collaboration.
Education remains the bedrock of the bilateral relationship and Australia is a popular destination for Indian students. With almost 70,000 Indian students studying in Australia at the end of January 2023 and the second-largest cohort of international students in the country, the issues of student mobility, visa backlogs and future research collaboration will hold centre stage. The recent announcement by PM Albanese of an education agreement for the mutual recognition of qualifications of both countries is the most comprehensive of its kind with any other country.
The “watershed moment for bilateral relations” that PM Modi described last year when both countries struck a trade deal after two decades of effort can be transformed during the coming meeting into a deepening moment for both nations.
The bilateral meeting is an opportunity for both countries to show how serious they are about reaching their economic potential by setting clear targets to significantly lift the current trading partnership by 2030 above its current base of $35 billion, and a date for achieving a Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Trade Agreement. But there is already much for Australia to share to show its friendship, trust and commitment to India. It is about to open a new consulate in India’s tech capital, Bengaluru, and launch a new centre for Australia-India relations in Sydney to strengthen cultural linkages. This suite of initiatives bodes well for Australia which will continue to rely on its partnership with India as a counterweight to the uncertain dynamics the region faces through China’s non-rules-based approach.
In 1955, Prime Minister Robert Menzies decided that Australia should not take part in the Bandung Afro-Asian Conference. By distancing Australia from the “new world”, Menzies (who would later confess that Occidentals did not understand India) alienated Indians, offended Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and left Australia unsure, for decades, about its Asian identity. That past is fortunately over for us, as Canberra and Delhi cement what may well become the most exciting and durable partnership of the 21st century.
This article was originally published on The Indian Express.