On September 11, 2021, India hosted the 1st ever 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue with Australia in New Delhi. In this regard, Australia’ s Marise Payne, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for Women and Peter Dutton, Minister of Defence Minister visited India.
- From the Indian side it was attended by Union Ministers Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), and Rajnath Singh, Ministry of Defence (MoD).
- Discussions and mutual consents were made on the issues including economic security, cyber, climate, critical technology, supply chains, and the Afghanistan crisis.
- The Dialogue concluded with a joint statement, Click here to read the joint statement.
Highlights of Dialogue:
i.This 2+2 dialogue is the outcome of India-Australia leaders’ virtual summit in June 2020 to elevate bilateral relations to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership (CSP).
- There both nations also signed a landmark deal for reciprocal access to military bases for logistics support.
ii.It should be noted that Australia will contribute $10 million to India’s initiative towards disaster-resilient infrastructure as Australia is exploring collaboration with India on low emission technologies in order to ensure a clean energy future.
iii.Both nations are also working towards an ‘early harvest trade deal’ that will act as a base for comprehensive economic cooperation agreement.
iv.Both sides reaffirmed their commitment to quadrilateral cooperation between Australia, India, Japan and the United States (US).
v.The next 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue will be held in 2023.
Key Points:
i.Marise Payne laid a wreath at the National War Memorial in New Delhi.
ii.Notably, India has such a framework for talks with a very few nations comprising the US and Japan, and Russia.
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On July 29, 2021, JSW Future Energy Ltd, the wholly-owned subsidiary of JSW Energy, made a framework agreement with Australian Fortescue Future Industries (FFI) Pty Ltd to produce green hydrogen fuel.
About Australia:
Capital– Canberra
Currency– Australian dollar
