Editorial: Deepening ties

The relationship between India and Australia has touched a new level and is more than transactional

Hyderabad: Rivals on the cricket pitch but natural partners in geopolitics. With shared values of democracy, a free and open society and love for cricket, India and Australia are coming closer than ever before. The deepening bilateral relationship was evident in the extraordinary bonhomie that marked the recent visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The bilateral relations between the two countries have been going from strength to strength in recent times, with Modi and his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese having already met six times on different occasions in the past one year. Besides the growth in bilateral relationships, India and Australia are members of the Quadrilateral forum along with Japan and the United States. For the first time since India’s independence, Delhi and Canberra now have converging interests in Asia and its waters. The relationship has now touched a new level and is more than transactional. It is rooted in deep mutual trust and respect. The two countries have signed a migration and mobility pact to open up opportunities for students and businesspeople as Modi and Albanese discussed ways to take forward cooperation in key areas such as critical minerals and renewable energy. This agreement comes just two months after the Australia-India Education Qualification Recognition Mechanism was finalised during Albanese’s visit to India. The Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) is also expected to be finalised by the end of the year to build on an interim deal that took effect last December.

The announcement of the Australia-India Education Qualification Recognition Mechanism, during Albanese’s visit to Delhi in March last, reflects the growing importance being accorded by both countries to bilateral ties in the education sector. This arrangement is aimed at ensuring that the degrees earned by Indian students who have studied in Australia are duly recognised when they return home and is also expected to facilitate recognition of the students’ Indian qualifications by the Australian authorities. Australia is one of the favoured destinations, along with the United States, Canada and the UK, for Indian students to pursue higher education. A rapidly growing Indian diaspora now forms more than 3% of the Australian population and will soon hit the million mark. The “living bridge” between the two societies is likely to get stronger with the signing of a bilateral Migration and Mobility agreement as well as the establishment of new consulates in Brisbane and Bengaluru. Even as the talks focused on cooperation in a wide range of sectors — education, green hydrogen, defence and security, trade and investment, critical minerals — Modi raised India’s concerns over the attacks on temples and the activities of Khalistan sympathisers in Australia. The two governments decided to exchange information and coordinate with each other regarding action against separatists who have been defacing temples with anti-India graffiti. Such activities by fringe groups should not be allowed to derail the bilateral partnership.

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