India-Australia 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue

India-Australia 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue

News: Recently, the 2nd India-Australia 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue was held in New Delhi, India.

Key Highlights:
• The dialogue was co-chaired by Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh and Minister of External Affairs Dr S Jaishankar along with their Australian counterparts, Deputy Prime Minister & Minister for Defence Mr Richard Marles and Minister for Foreign Affairs Ms Penny Wong.
• The dialogue focused on advancing cooperation on shared regional interests, including defence, security, renewable energy, and technology.
• Both nations emphasized further cooperation in information exchange and Indo-Pacific Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA.
• Both sides discussed the implementing arrangements on hydrography cooperation and cooperation for air-to-air refueling, promising collaboration in Defense areas.
• Both countries recognized the potential of deepening cooperation in defense industry and research as a means to enhance their already strong relationship.
• Both countries reaffirmed commitment to strengthen bilateral defense relations and expressed satisfaction over increasing militaryto-military cooperation, joint exercises, exchanges, and institutional dialogues.

Co-operation between the 2 nations in other areas:
• In 2020, ties between the 2 countries elevated from Strategic Partnership to Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.
• The Mutual Logistics Support Agreement (MLSA) was signed during the Virtual Summit in June 2020 to enhance defence cooperation.
• Economic cooperation trade agreement (ECTA) – First FTA signed by India with a developed country in over a decade.
• Supply Chain resilience initiative (SCRI) – Tri-partnership to enhance resilience of supply chain between India, Australia and Japan.