Deal is part of seven agreements signed between India and Australia in first-ever virtual summit
Days after US President Donald Trump invited India, Australia and South Korea to join the G-7 summit in September and China slammed the gesture, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Aussie counterpart Scott Morrison held a video summit on Thursday and discussed a range of issues, including coronavirus pandemic, terrorism, maritime security challenges in the Indo-Pacific region and reforms in the World Trade Organization (WTO).
The two countries also inked an agreement for reciprocal access to military bases for logistics support besides firming up six more pacts to further broaden ties.
The Mutual Logistics Support Agreement will allow militaries of the two countries to use each other’s bases for repair and replenishment of supplies besides facilitating boosing overall defence ties.
India has similar pacts with the US, France and Singapore, seen as part of broader security cooperation to balance China’s growing economic and military weight in the region.
Given the ongoing face-offs on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Eastern Ladakh and diplomatic and military level efforts on to defuse tension, Ministry of External Affairs said the China issue was not discussed during the talks between Modi and Morrison.
In his opening remarks, Modi favoured a coordinated and collaborative approach to come out of the adverse economic and social impact of the epidemic that has infected around 65 lakh people and killed 3.88 lakh globally.
He said a process of comprehensive reforms covering almost all areas has been initiated in India as his Government viewed the Covid crisis as an “opportunity”.
Referring to the virtual summit, the PM termed it “a new model of India-Australia partnership, a new model of conducting business”. It was the first time that Modi held a “bilateral” virtual summit with a foreign leader.
The PM described his talks with Morrison as “an outstanding discussion”, covering the entire expanse of ties between the two strategic partners. Incidentally, Modi and Morrison have met four times in the last one and half years.
“Our Government has decided to view this crisis as an opportunity. In India, a process of comprehensive reforms has been initiated in almost all areas. It will soon see results at the ground level,” Modi said.
The PM also thanked Morrison for taking care of the Indian community in Australia, especially the students during the “difficult time”.
Morrison complemented Modi for his “constructive and very positive” role including at the G-20 role in pushing for a concerted global approach in dealing with the coronavirus crisis. He described India-Australian partnership as natural and comfortable one between two confident and sovereign nations who are trusted partners.
Modi said he believed that it is the “perfect time and perfect opportunity” to further strengthen the relationship between India and Australia. “We have immense possibilities to make our friendship stronger,” he said, adding, “How our relations become a ‘factor of stability’ for our region and for the world, how we work together for global good, all these aspects need to be considered.”
Meanwhile, a joint statement issued after the talks also said besides the defence pact, the other agreements included bilateral cooperation in areas of cyber and cyber-enabled critical technology, mining and minerals, military technology, vocational education and water resources management.
The two countries recognised that terrorism remains a threat to peace and stability in the region and strongly condemned the menace in all its forms and manifestations, stressing that there can be no justification for acts of terror on any grounds whatsoever.
The joint statement said both sides support a comprehensive approach in combating terrorism, including by countering violent extremism, preventing radicalisation, disrupting financial support to terrorists and facilitating prosecution of those involved in acts of terror. The two sides also called for early adoption of a Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism (CCIT).
The statement also said both sides discussed the issue of taxation of offshore income of Indian firms through the use of the India-Australia Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) and sought early resolution of the issue.
Modi tweeted after the talks “India-Australia ties have always been close. As vibrant democracies, from Commonwealth to cricket to even cuisine, our people-to-people relations are strong and the future is bright!(sic).”
During the discussion, Modi referred to Morrison’s tweet on samosas. In response, he said that now ScoMosas has become a very popular word, Vijay Thakur Singh, Secretary (East), Ministry of External Affairs said later. She also said the Australian Prime Minister said next time he would like to make ‘Gujarati khichri’ and what he called ‘ModiMosas’ and share it with Modi.
