Piyush Goyal meets Tony Abbott, discusses roadmap for strengthening trade ties

Taking to Twitter, Goyal tweeted, "Had an extensive meeting with TonyAbbott, Special Trade Envoy of the Prime Minister of Australia. Discussed roadmap for strengthening trade ties between the two natural allies. India and Australia working for a resilient and reliable supply chain."

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman also met Tony Abbott and said that complementarities between both countries provide immense scope for augmenting the economic relationship. The two leaders held discussions on various issues of mutual interest.

Earlier on Thursday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi met former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott who is on a visit to India from August 2-6, 2021.

The two leaders discussed ways to further strengthen bilateral trade, investment and economic cooperation to realize the full potential of the India-Australia Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, informed the official release by the Prime Minister's office.

They emphasized that enhanced economic cooperation between India and Australia would help both countries better address the economic challenges emerging out of the COVID-19 pandemic, and would also help them in realising their shared vision of a stable, secure, and prosperous Indo-Pacific region.

Prime Minister Modi expressed his satisfaction at the stellar growth of India-Australia ties in recent times and admired the important contributions of Prime Minister Morrison and Former Prime Minister Abbott in this journey.

Prime Minister also recalled his virtual summit last year with Prime Minister Morrison and reiterated his desire to be able to host PM Morrison in India as soon as conditions permit.

At the leaders' virtual summit held between PM Modi and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on June 4 2020, the bilateral relationship was elevated to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, under which India and Australia committed, inter alia, to encourage expanded trade and investment flows for mutual benefit and decided to re-engage on a bilateral Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA). The present visit by The Hon Tony Abbott is reflective of this shared ambition. (ANI)