Second India-Australia Virtual Summit Starts Today, Australia To Announce Rs 1,500 Crore Investment

An MoU in the field of critical minerals will be signed that will help increase India's access to metallic coal and lithium in Australia and cater to the growing demand for electric vehicles

New Delhi: The second India-Australia virtual summit will kick off on Monday with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Australian counterpart Scott Morrison discussing the roadmap on new initiatives to enhance cooperation in a diverse range of sectors between the two countries.

Both sides are expected to sign the largest trade pact with Canberra set to announce investments worth Rs 1,500 crore in India across multiple sectors, according to news agency ANI. The two countries are also expected to conclude an early harvest agreement by the end of this month.

What are areas of focus in the Summit?

It means that an early harvest agreement will help in liberalising tariffs on the trade of certain goods between two countries or trading blocs before a comprehensive agreement.

Among all trade agreements, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in the field of critical minerals will be signed that will help increase India's access to metallic coal and lithium in Australia and cater to the growing demand for electric vehicles and growing infrastructure, as per ANI report .

Moreover, the Union minister of Coal and Mines, Pralhad Joshi, will visit Australia soon, as per the sources of ANI.

What were 2021 initiatives between both nations?

The leaders will also take stock of progress made on various initiatives under the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership signed in the Virtual Summit held in June 2020.

Modi had held a bilateral meeting with PM Morrison in Washington DC in September 2021 on the sidelines of the Quad Leaders' Summit. The two leaders met again in November of last year on the occasion of the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland.

Morrison had addressed the Bengaluru Tech Summit in November and announced the new Australia-India Centre of Excellence for Critical and Emerging Technology Policy. He has also hinted at establishing a new Consulate General in Bengaluru, while Modi delivered the keynote address at the Sydney Dialogue, on India's technology evolution and revolution on November 18.

Both countries also engaed at the ministerial level talks, with the 2+2 Foreign and Defence Ministerial Dialogue.

Australia's Foreign Minister Marise Payne and Minister for Defence Peter Dutton met Indian counterparts S Jaishankar and Rajnath Singh in September in New Delhi for the First India-Australia 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue.

The previous summit delivered eight landmark agreements to drive India-Australia cooperation, which included a joint declaration on Maritime Cooperation in the Indo-Pacific, Mutual Logistics Support Agreement (MLSA) and multiple Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) on cooperation in various fields including cyber technology, mining, defence cooperation, public administration and water resources management.