New Delhi: In a move to strengthen its QUAD grouping, India has invited Australia for the annual Malabar naval exercises which is to be held next month. United States and Japan have already confirmed their participation in the naval exercise.
This will be India's first military-level engagement between the four-member nations grouping - the Quad.
The invitation by India to the Australian Navy for the Malabar Naval Drill came two weeks after the foreign ministers of the Quad held extensive talks in Tokyo with a focus on enhancing their cooperation in the Indo-Pacific, a region that has been witnessing increasing Chinese military assertiveness.
"As India seeks to increase cooperation with other countries in the maritime security domain and in the light of increased defence cooperation with Australia, Malabar 2020 will see the participation of the Australian Navy," the defence ministry said in a statement.
The Ministry statement added, "The participants of Exercise Malabar 2020 are engaging to enhance safety and security in the maritime domain. They collectively support free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific and remain committed to a rules-based international order."
For the last few years, Australia has been showing keen interest in participating in the exercise and India's decision to heed to Australia's request to be part of the mega naval drill comes amid ongoing border tension with China.
In her reaction, Australian Defence Minister Linda Reynolds CSC termed the participation of her country in the Naval exercise as a "milestone opportunity" and said it will showcase the "deep trust" between four major Indo-Pacific democracies and their shared will to work together on common security interests.
A joint release by the Australian foreign and defence ministries said, "It will bolster the ability of India, Australia, Japan and the United States to work together to uphold peace and stability across our region."
Defence and security ties between India and Australia have been on an upswing in the last few years. In June, India and Australia elevated their ties to a comprehensive strategic partnership and signed a landmark deal for reciprocal access to military bases for logistics support during an online summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Australian counterpart Scott Morrison. India has already inked mutual logistics support deal with the other two Quad members.
(With PTI input)
