After hosting Japanese PM this month, PM Modi likely to have virtual summit with Australia PM Scott Morrison
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Australian PM Scott Morrison are planning to hold a virtual bilateral summit. This summit will be held after Japanese PM Fumio Kishida’s bilateral visit to India on 19th and 20th March, as per a report by Economic Times.
On the agenda of this virtual meet will be Indo-Pacific defence partnership, supply chain issues, import of critical minerals from Australia, cooperation in high-tech and the current Russian invasion of Ukraine will be discussed in the meet, the report further says.
PM Morrison was supposed to visit India for the summit but owing to commitments to his reelection campaign for the general election in May this year, he will meet PM Modi virtually.
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PM Modi is all set to host Japanese PM Kishida this week. A visit by the Japanese PM has been due since December 2019 when the then PM Shinzo Abe had to cancel his visit due to the Anti-CAA protests and then got delayed due to the pandemic.
These two bilateral meets come after a virtual QUAD (Quadrilateral Security Dialogue) virtual summit between India, Australia, Japan and the US.
These meetings will set the tone of the impending QUAD summit meet later this year in Tokyo, Japan.
India and Australia are likely to sign an interim trade deal (FTA) this month which will allow easier access for Indian pharmaceuticals as well as concession on gems and jewelry and textiles for Indian traders in the Australian market, as per media reports.
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Australian wine is likely to get tariff cuts, especially those which do not compete with domestic wine makers.
This trade deal is a part of an economic rearrangement on the part of India, Australia and Japan which seeks to move the critical supply chains away from China.
India-Australia bilateral trade was USD12.5 billion in FY21, with India exporting key services and importing coal and other energy resources from Australia.
