22 November 2022 – The Indian Express

India Australia relations

India-Australian ties through time:

• Commercial links between India and Australia date back to the 18th century, when India was instrumental in sustaining the fledgling colony.
• The East India Company’s operations in Bengal began to depend heavily on trade with Australia.
• Australia’s closest and most direct connections during the following 50 years were with India rather than London as officials, merchants, priests, and judges travelled back and forth between the two colonies.
• By 1840, a ship was sailing from Sydney to India nearly every four days, and merchants in Calcutta prospered from supplying the new colony. India was a key supplier of food and supplies for Australia.
• Several British colonial families from India settled in the new Australian colonies at the beginning of the 19th century.
• When the Indian Consulate General in Sydney initially opened its doors as a trade office in 1941, Australia and India established diplomatic ties before India gained independence.
• In 1945, Canberra welcomed India’s first High Commissioner to Australia. Lieutenant-General Iven Mackay was chosen to serve as Australia’s first High Commissioner to India in March 1944.
• In Melbourne, the Indian Consulate General first opened its doors in 2006. Inauguration of the Indian Consulate General in Perth took place in October 2011.

India and Australia’s political ties:

• While there has been a frequent exchange of visits at the ministerial level, there have only been a few bilateral meetings between heads of state or governments.
• Visits in June 2001 and the CHOGM Summit in March 2002 both occurred at the EAM level.
• India also participated in the 2011 Framework Dialogue of Foreign Ministers and the 2011 Perth Pre-CHOGM Foreign Ministers’ Meetings.
• In the years 1989–1995 and 1996–2005, respectively, there were frequent visits from the Australian side to India.
• In November 2011, the Australian Foreign Minister travelled to Bengaluru to attend the IOR-ARC Council of Ministers meeting.

Australia and India collaborate in a number of multilateral forums:

• Australia is in favour of India being a member of a larger UN Security Council.
• India and Australia are both participants in the East Asia Summits and members of the G-20, Commonwealth, IOR-ARC, ASEAN Regional Forum, and Asia Pacific Partnership on Climate and Clean Development.
• Both nations have been working together as FIP (Five Interested Parties) participants in the WTO.
• India’s APEC participation is supported by Australia, a significant participant in the group.
• Australia joined SAARC as an observer in 2008.

India and Australia’s joint defence efforts:

• India and Australia’s defence cooperation has grown dramatically in recent years. Both a Joint Declaration on Security Cooperation and an MoU on Defense Cooperation have been signed.
• Regular Naval, Air Force, and Army Talks, combined naval exercises, and frequent visits to each other’s training facilities and seminars are just a few examples of the numerous interactions that take place.
• For the Defense Ministers’ Dialogue, the Australian defence minister travelled to India in December 2011.
• Almost every significant aspect of the military is now covered by the India-Australia defence relationship, including strategic discussions, coordination, and information sharing; military drills involving ground, air, and maritime forces; exchanges and training; and defence scientific and technological cooperation.

IFC-IOR:

• Through the exchange of information on the ships in the Indian Ocean Region, the Information Fusion Centre – Indian Ocean Region in Gurugram aims to improve marine security and response.

Strategic Conversation:

• Australia and India made the decision to raise the status of their Secretaries 2+2 discussion (Defence and Foreign Affairs) to Ministerial level in June 2020.
• At least every two years, ministers from the two nations will get together to discuss the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.
• A Comprehensive Strategic Partnership has been established between the two leaders of the two nations.

Malabar Exercise:

• In addition to Japan, the US, and India, Australia took part in the MALABAR naval exercise in October 2020.
• Four regional democracies and defence allies participated in the exercise, showcasing their shared commitment to an open and thriving Indo-Pacific.
• High-end military drills like MALABAR are essential for boosting marine capabilities across the board and fostering interoperability with important allies.

AUSINDEX:

• Through the important bilateral exercise AUSINDEX, communication between the Royal Australian Navy and the Indian Navy has advanced tremendously.
• Australia sent its largest-ever defence deployment to India for the third iteration of the biennial exercise, which included four ships, Australian Army infantry, and RAAF aircraft, totaling more than 1000 Australian personnel.

Shared Military Platforms:

• Due to the rise in the number of shared platforms, there are more prospects for collaborative training between the Australian and Indian forces.
• These include the Chinook heavy-lift helicopters, P-8 maritime reconnaissance aircraft, C-17 strategic transport aircraft, and C-130 tactical transport aircraft.

Exchanges of training:

• Through regular personnel and training exchanges, including short specialised courses and longer-term employment, Australia and India strengthen ties between our armed forces.
• Australia sends personnel to India’s top military colleges every year, including the National Defense College and the Defence Services Staff College.
• Additionally, every year India sends three officers to Australia to study at the Command and Staff College and the Defense and Strategic Studies programme.

Australia-India Council:

• The Australia-India Council (AIC) promotes awareness-building efforts and exchanges to deepen Australia and India’s connection.

Australia-India Trade and Investment:

• India is Australia’s fifth-largest trading partner, and Australia is India’s eighth-largest trading partner.
• India moved up from 12th to 4th place among Australia’s export markets between 2003-04 and 2009-10.
• Tourism and computer and information services are India’s two largest service exports to Australia.
• Education, travel for educational purposes, and tourism are the main Australian service exports to India.
• The second-biggest market for coal and copper ores, the third-largest market for lead and wool, and the largest export market for gold and chickpeas from Australia are all to India.
• Over eighty percent of India’s imports from Australia were made up of four different goods: coal, non-monetary gold, copper ores & concentrates, and petroleum, with coal and gold being the two most important imports in the years 2010–11.
• In 2010–11, India’s top exports to Australia were jewellery, medicines, passenger cars, pearls and other jewels, and pearl and gem products.
• Since its creation in 1989, the India-Australia Joint Ministerial Commission has met thirteen times, the most recent of which was on May 12, 2011, in Canberra.
• Following the JMC, the parties decided to start talks on a Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA), which have now started.
• Significantly highlighting the significance of the natural resources sector in the bilateral relationship are the signing of five Action Plans in 2008 in the areas of coal, mining, power, petroleum & natural gas, and new & renewable energy.
• Every significant Indian IT company is present in Australia and expanding quickly. Among them are Infosys, Satyam Mahindra, TCS, HCL, Polaris Software Lab, Birlasoft, ICICI Infotech, Wipro, Mahindra-British Telecom, i-Flex, and gate. Melbourne is home to Satyam Mahindra’s largest product development facility outside of India.
• There are currently no direct flights between Australia and India. Tourism is expanding quickly; in 2010, 1,65,500 Australian visitors travelled to India, and 1,38,700 Indian tourists travelled to Australia.

Technology and Science:

• MOUs have been signed in the fields of space, meteorology, S&T research, and educational and scientific training as a result of an Inter-Governmental S&T Agreement that was finalised in 1986. S&T and biotechnology have joint working groups.
• The Australia-India Strategic Research Fund was established in 2006 by the two governments. It has identified various joint research initiatives and includes a variety of topics, including agribusiness, astronomy and astrophysics, environmental sciences, microelectronics, and nanotechnology.
• Critical topics like oncology, marine science, water management, climate change drive evolution, and ocean colour are covered in the research projects and case studies.

Education:

• A Joint Working Group on Education & Training between Australia and India has identified several key areas for cooperation, including collaborative research in education policy, research student exchange programmes, capacity building in vocational education, and distance learning in higher education. These two countries engage in a lot of academic exchange.
• Australia quickly surpassed the UK as the second-most popular study abroad country for Indian students as the number of Indian students studying there grew.
• The number of students enrolling from India, however, has dramatically decreased as a result of revisions to student visa laws, general skilled migration rules, the detrimental effects of a series of student attacks in 2009–10, and the increasing value of the Australian dollar.

Australian Indian community:

• In Australia, there is a large and expanding Indian community. There are also a sizable number of residents of Indian descent in places like Fiji, Malaysia, Kenya, and South Africa.

Way ahead:

• In recent years, there has been an exponential increase in the level of coordination and cooperation between the two nations. The basis for strengthening ties between India and Australia is their common geography, history, values, and interests.
• India and Australia both see an Indo-Pacific area that is free, open, inclusive, and governed by laws.
• India and Australia support the peaceful settlement of conflicts through international law, such as the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), as opposed to taking unilateral or forceful action.