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On the sidelines of bilateral talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the newly-elected Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Monday said that the relationship with India is very important and ties between the two countries have never been more closer.
Speaking to ANI, the Australian PM said, "Our relationship with India is a very important one and it was a great honour to meet with Prime Minister Modi." PM Modi congratulated Prime Minister Albanese on his election victory. Both leaders reviewed the multi-faceted cooperation under the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, including trade and investment, defense manufacturing, renewable energy, green hydrogen, education, science and technology, agricultural research, sports, and people-to-people ties. Both Prime Ministers affirmed their desire to continue the positive momentum in the bilateral relationship. PM Modi extended an invitation to the Australian Prime Minister to visit India at an early date. Bilateral discussions with PM Narendra Modi focused on Australia and India's full strategic and economic agenda, including clean energy technology. Taking to Twitter the Australian Prime Minister wrote, "Warmly welcomed my meeting with @narendramodi for an engaging discussion on Australia and India's full strategic and economic agenda, including on clean energy technology. Australia-India ties have never been closer." This was followed by the bilateral talks between PM Modi and US President Joe Biden in Tokyo shortly after holding the Quad Leaders' Summit where the Prime Minister said that India and US partnership is a partnership of trust in a true sense. The meeting marks a continuation of their regular dialogue having interacted most recently in virtual mode on April 11. "We took part in a positive and useful Quad Summit today. India and US partnership in the true sense is a partnership of trust. Our common interests and values have strengthened this bond of trust between our two countries," PM Modi said during the meeting with Biden.The Prime Minister said that India and the US share similar views on Indo-Pacific. "We share similar views on Indo-Pacific, at the bilateral level as well as with like-minded countries to work to protect our common concerns. Our discussions today will give speed to this positive momentum," he said. Speaking further, PM Modi said people-to-people ties and strong economic cooperation make India-US partnership unique. "Our trade and investment relations are also steadily on the rise but they are below our potential. I am confident that with the conclusion of the US Investment Incentive Agreement we will see concrete progress in investment between our two countries."This meeting comes after the fourth interaction of Quad Leaders since their first virtual meeting in March 2021, in-person Summit in Washington D.C. in September 2021 and virtual meeting in March 2022. The Quad Summit provided an opportunity for the Leaders to exchange views about developments in the Indo-Pacific region and contemporary global issues of mutual interest. The Quad summit witnessed the launch of a new initiative for continuous collaboration in the maritime domain, space, climate change, health and cyber security. (ANI)
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