Australian secretary of state Marise Payne and defence minister Peter Dutton is scheduled to arrive in India on Fri to carry ‘2+2’ ministerial dialogue with external affairs minister S Jaishankar and Union minister for defence Rajnath Singh.
The meeting between the ministers of both the state , scheduled on Saturday, is aimed toward boosting bilateral defence ties and strategic cooperation within the Ind-Pacific region, within the wake of China’s growing aggressiveness.
India and Australia are a part of the strategic Quadrilateral Security Dialogue group, or the Quad, because it is colloquially called, along side the us and Japan. Its first inklings return to 2007 but a recent resurgence is essentially seen as an initiative to post-pandemic recovery and maritime security across the Indo-Pacific.
The heads of the member states of Quad group are scheduled to satisfy within the at Washington, DC on September 23 before the UN General Assembly.
The ‘2+2’ ministerial dialogue, people conversant in diplomatic parlays said, will specialise in cooperation in areas of maritime security.
India and Australia are partnering with one another on ramping up strategic ties over the past few years. The navies of India and Australia recently took part within the Malabar exercises that also featured the US and Japan.
