The June 4 virtual meet between Prime Minister Scott Morrison and his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi has laid the foundation for promising diplomatic, defence and strategic ties which would be mutually beneficial.
India and Australia have both enjoyed a long standing shared economic, political and diplomatic vision and for more than a decade, leaders of both the nations have been working closely towards strengthening their ties on all the fronts. The signing of nine strategically crucial pacts which included maritime cooperation, cyber technology and vigilance, mining and processing of critical and strategic minerals, cooperation in defence, science and technology, public administration and governance reforms, vocational education and training and water resources management between the two nations during their first ever virtual summit on June 4 signalled the successful culmination of the much awaited virtual summit between the two leaders. This meeting had been long overdue after having been deferred twice in the past; the first time due to the Australian bush fires in January and then in May due to the global crisis surrounding the Covid-19 pandemic.
Reinforcement of Military Ties
As India and Australia cemented what is being hailed as their “Comprehensive Strategic Partnership” which entailed the signing of the nine agreements, one of the most significant among these, the Mutual Logistics Support Agreement (MLSA) has widened the portals for greater coordination between the navies of both the nations. Both Australia and India are in favour of an open, unrestricted, inclusive and rules-based Indo-Pacific region which would streamline navigation, ensure autonomy in over-flight as well as peaceful and non-subversive use of the oceanic region by following the international laws of United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
The MLSA pact will not only provide both the countries a greater access to the Indo-Pacific region but also allow them to use each other’s military bases, thus paving the way for frequent convergences in the form of joint military exercises, both bilateral as well as multi-lateral, in the near future. Having access to refuelling and maintenance facilities at each other’s military bases will certainly be mutually beneficial for the Indian and Australian forces.
The defence ties between India and Australia are anything but new; in fact, both the democracies have a shared military history which goes way back to the First World War when around 15,000 Indian soldiers fought alongside Australian soldiers in 1915 at the Gallipoli campaign in Turkey. Even Australia has reciprocated in earnest by offering military aid to India during the Sino-Indian war in 1963. In more recent times, the Royal Australian Navy and the Indian Navy have been carrying out joint maritime exercises, “AUSINDEX” since 2017 and a joint military exercise, “AUSTRA HIND” was carried out by the armies of both the nations between 2016 and 2018. Although Australia is still not a permanent participant in the annual Malabar exercise, a trilateral naval exercise involving India, US and Japan, it did participate in the ninth edition in 2007 when it was conducted for the first time outside the realms of the Indian Ocean off the Japanese island, Okinawa. In fact, India is now ready to embrace Australia into the fold with alacrity for the forthcoming Malabar exercise and it is being hoped that an invitation from India to Australia will materialize in the near future.
What has made the MLSA a watershed moment in the growing solidarity between India and Australia is that, it comes in the backdrop of the belligerence that both countries are being subjected to by China, albeit in vastly different contexts, along with the long growing fears of China’s blatant domination in the Indo-Pacific region. While the relation between India and China has soured even more amid the escalating tensions across the Sino-Indian border, China’s relation with Australia, though not hostile, has been a little shaky after China threatened to put sanctions on Australia’s beef exports and raised tariffs on its barley exports following Australia’s demand for a probe into China’s role in the COVID-19 pandemic.
The joint avowal by both countries to work towards maintaining stability and peace in the Indo-Pacific region through logistics sharing and maritime cooperation exhibits that even with the Covid-19 crisis still looming on the horizon both Prime Minister Morrison and Indian Prime Minister Modi are making concrete and sincere efforts to deepen the ties between their respective countries along with playing key roles in global peace and harmony.
Joint Investment in Cyber Technology, Quantum Computing & AI
Another pact which contributed to the huge uptick in the Indian and Australian strategic relations was the one on cyber affairs and critical technology with both countries slated to invest nearly $ 13 million in cyber technology and other allied fields for the next four years. Both the countries have committed themselves to fortifying cyber security in the backdrop of growing concerns over vulnerability in secure internet connections and also to foster digital trade. The groundwork for the necessity of cyber security convergence had been laid down in 2019 during the third round of the India-Australia Cyber Policy dialogue held in New Delhi.
This agreement could not have materialized at a more fortuitous time as both the nations have been facing cyber threats from hostile elements. Moreover, Australian cyber security firms can now look forward to making inroads into Indian businesses desirous of ramping up their cyber security fortresses by supplying innovative services that can bolster their cyber security capabilities.
Australia’s Unequivocal Support for India’s Inclusion in NSG & UNSC
In the joint statement released following the virtual summit, Australia also showed strong support for India’s bid to gain a permanent seat in the reformed United Nations Security Council (UNSC) and membership to the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG). Both India and Australia are committed to using nuclear energy for peaceful civil purposes and it is because of this shared vision that in 2014, the then Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott had signed a civil nuclear deal with Indian Prime Minister Modi to supply uranium to India’s reactors despite India being a non-signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. It spoke volumes about Australia’s trust in India’s unblemished non-proliferation record and now can undoubtedly be considered as a precursor for the former’s backing the latter’s inclusion in the currently 48-nation strong NSG. Ingeminating its previously stated support for India’s candidacy to a permanent seat in the UNSC, Australia has strengthened its cordial ties with India even further.
Renewed hope for enhancing mutual trade & investment
As India is all set to expand its manufacturing sector, defence and space capabilities, and work towards fulfilling its goal of optimum electric mobility by the year 2030, there is bound to be a stupendous rise in the demand for critical minerals. Australia is in possession of 21 critical minerals identified by India. A Memorandum of Understanding has been inked between India and Australia to supply critical minerals and the latter hopes that the Lithium exports would be worth $3 billion by the financial year 2024-25. Australia, being among the top three nations to produce cobalt and zircon, Australian Resources Minister Keith Pitt has affirmed that they are in a position to be the most significant supplier of these minerals to India.
Moreover, as China hiked its tariff by 80% on Australian barley exports, India has opened its door for Australia thus providing much needed relief to the Australian exporters, primarily from Western Australia and South Australia who would soon be exporting barley to India.
Not only this, with the burgeoning synergy between Australia and India, both Modi and Morrison have shown optimism with regard to resuming talks on the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement which was launched in 2011, with the most recent negotiations being in September 2015. Although during the June 4 virtual summit this yet again did not come to fruition, there is still room for substantial growth in the bilateral trade ties especially since the figures for the two-way trade in commodities and services has risen from approximately $ 13 billion (AUD) in 2007 to a little more than $ 30 billion (AUD) in 2018.
According to an extensive report “An India Economic Strategy to 2035” by the Australian Government’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Australia has a tremendous opportunity to invest in India. The Indian policy framework on international investment will continue to widen steadily out to 2035 even as its business environment improves perpetually with potential for an active diversification strategy for investors. India has shown a marked interest in foreign investment by making considerable headway in liberalizing its foreign policies. Nevertheless, Australian foreign direct investment (FDI) in India is blatantly under-developed (around AUD 15.6 billion) and this is mainly owing to the fact that India is yet to deliver on its promise of liberalizing its investment frameworks further and provide more security of returns to its investors. On the horizon are major investment opportunities in a range of sectors in India, which Australia needs to capitalize on. The opposite is equally true that Indian FDI in Australia has the potential to increase from its current level of AUD 15.1 billion. The report also emphatically recommends that the Australian government must tap into the entrepreneurial spirit of the swiftly growing Australian-Indian diaspora which can play a significant role in raising the productivity of the Australian business sector.
Indian Students to Benefit from Australia’s Vocational Education System
Australia has been a much sought after destination for Indian students aspiring to study abroad. The Memorandum of Understanding on vocational education and training between India and Australia will play a pivotal role in achieving Indian government’s target of equipping 400,000 Indians with requisite practical skills by 2022 so that they can participate in all productive areas of development. Indian training institutions stand to gain immensely through collaborations with the state-of-the-art Australian Vocational Education System which will give them access to optimum quality training workshops, formulating skill development strategies and accreditation from premier Australian educational institutions.
Pledge to combat the Covid-19 Crisis together
Having been proactive in combating the Corona virus pandemic, both leaders reiterated the need to continue joint efforts to overcome the health-related crisis. The 13th round of the Australia-India Strategic Research Fund will focus on collaborative research funds contributing to the global response to the Covid-19 pandemic. In fact, researchers from Griffith University, Australia, have already collaborated since April 2020 with Indian Immunologists Limited, a renowned vaccine-manufacturing company in Hyderabad to develop a vaccine for Covid-19.
Upgrading the 2+2 Dialogue from the secretarial to the ministerial level
The inaugural two-plus-two meeting between Indian and Australian Foreign and Defence Secretaries took place in 2017 when Australian Secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade Frances Adamson and Secretary of the Department of Defense Greg Moriarty were hosted by Indian Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar and Defense Secretary Sanjay Mitra in New Delhi. The June 4 virtual summit concluded with both sides deciding to upgrade it to the ministerial level so that the Australian and Indian Defence and Foreign Ministers can conduct direct 2+2 talks in the future.
Finally, ScoMosa-friendship Sums it All Up
The personal bonhomie between the two statesmen was exhibited when Prime Minister Morrison remarked about missing Indian Prime Minister Modi’s congenial hugs and his desire to make Gujarati khichdi. On May 31, Morrison had tried his hand at making samosas, a popular Indian snack, and posted a picture on his official twitter account calling them as “ScoMosas” with a comment about sharing the vegetarian snacks with Indian Prime Minister Modi. Modi had also reciprocated by commenting “Connected by the Indian Ocean, united by the Indian samosa”.