India, Australia vow to deepen cooperation in multilateral fora

Washington, Sep 22 (IANS) Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese have reiterated their commitment to strengthening cooperation in the multilateral fora during their meeting on the sidelines of the sixth Quad Leaders' Summit in Wilmington, US.

The two leaders discussed strengthening bilateral cooperation across a wide range of areas such as political and strategic, defence and security, trade and investments, education and research, climate change and renewable energy, and people-to-people ties, the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement on Sunday."Held extensive discussions with PM Albanese. We seek to add even more momentum in areas like trade, security, space and culture. India greatly cherishes the time-tested friendship with Australia," Prime Minister Modi posted on social media platform X after the meeting.The two Prime Ministers also exchanged views on regional and global issues of mutual interest. They acknowledged that the frequency of high-level contacts has imparted a strong momentum to bilateral relations. This was their ninth in-person interaction since May 2022.Both leaders reiterated their commitment to take the India-Australia Comprehensive Strategic Partnership (CSP), established in 2020, to even greater heights.

The CSP is based on mutual understanding, trust, common interests and the shared values of democracy and rule of law. Both countries share the vision of an open, free, rules-based Indo-Pacific region supported by inclusive global and regional institutions that promote prosperous, stable and sovereign states on the basis of shared interests.Before his meeting with Prime Minister Albanese, PM Modi met his Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida to review the various facets of the India-Japan relationship. They also exchanged views to deepen defence and security ties and business-to-business and people-to-people collaborations.