Riding high on Look East Policy India under the leadership of
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has successfully romped in the trust and
confidence of another strategic partner, Australia. During the recent bilateral
visit of the Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott to India on Sep 4th,
India inked the most crucial Civil Nuclear Cooperation Agreement with
Australia. India is the first country, non signatory of nuclear
non-proliferation treaty with which Australia signed such an agreement. The seed
for the agreement was laid by Julia Gillard who lifted the ban on sale of
Uranium to India. Australia’s unequivocal support reflects new level of mutual
trust and confidence in bilateral relationship and opened a new chapter in
bilateral cooperation. The agreement would ensure a regular supply of Uranium,
highly consequential as India is slated to increase its operational nuclear
plants to 30 by 2032 from the current 22 nuclear plants. India’s own reserves
may not be enough as the requirement is expected to increase from the existing
400 tonnes to 2000 tonnes. Australia has
40% of World’s Uranium reserves and a strategic relationship can be highly
beneficial for long term India’s energy security plans of clean energy and
minimum carbon foot print.
In a country where Cricket is universal religion, the names
of cities Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide, Melbourne and Perth are more familiar
than Canberra, the official power centre of Australia. Australia reminds most
Indians of its indomitable cricket team and their spirited run in hockey. Beyond
the sporting ties in spite of enormous potential for bilateral cooperation, the
relationship failed to consummate to its fullest. India and Australia share
several commonalities- English language, democracy, free press, independent
judiciary, enormous craze for Cricket and Hockey and connected by the Indian
Ocean. Both of them are vibrant, stable and secular multicultural democracies.
For decades, both nations remained at an arm’s- length due to clash of the
titans- Jawaharlal Nehru and Australian Prime Minister Robert Menzies leading
to a frosty relationship between the nations as well. Australia’s White Policy and strident
criticism of India’s nuclear tests also hampered the breakthrough in bilateral
relationships. When both countries began to revamp the ties, the racist attacks
on Indian students in Australia in 2009 vitiated the atmosphere.
Tony Abbott third Prime Minister to visit India since 2009
and his gesture of returning the ancient statues of Nataraj and Ardhanarishwara
stolen in India has struck the chord for latest round of diplomacy. The current
bilateral talks also resulted in signing three vital agreements. Due to
convergence of interests both nations are now seeking extensive dialogue on
counter terrorism, transnational crime, disarmament, non proliferation,
humanitarian assistance and disaster relief. Defence cooperation between two
countries has substantially increased and the first bilateral naval exercise
planned for 2015. More than 400,000 people of Indian Origin are effectively
contributing to Australia and they form the bridge for greater friendship. Due
to its complementarities, India and Australia can mutually cooperate and
benefit through a strategic relationship. While India is resource constrained
country, Australia is endowed with abundant natural resources. India can emerge
as the major source of highly skilled human resources and can provide a market
for the resources as well.
India and Australia co-operate in various multilateral fora.
Australia has supported India’s membership for the expanded UN Security
Council. Both are members of Common Wealth, IORA (Indian Ocean Region
Association), ASEAN, ASEAN Regional Forum, Asia Pacific Partnership on Climate
and Clean Development, East Asia Summit and G-20. Since there has been decline
in trade during the last two years, both the countries wanted to conclude the
Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) for expansion of two way
bilateral trade. India’s investments currently pegged at $17 billion in
Australia are now increasing consistently and almost all the Indian IT majors
have set up their firms in Australia. In a move to bolster the bilateral
relationship a new Colombo plan is going to be in place to increase the flow of
Australian students to India. A high impact knowledge partnership in science
and technology fostered by Australia- India Strategic Research Fund has been
extended for four years to increase focus on commercialisation of research
outcomes.
While there have been regular ministerial level exchange of
visits, bilateral visits at the level of Head of State has been very limited.
To reinvigorate Indo-Australian relationships Prime Minister Modi is slated to
visit Australia after the G-20 summit in November. It would be first bilateral
visit to the continent by an Indian Prime Minister after a gap of 28 years to
increase dialogue on political, economic and security issues.
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