Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to hold an online summit with his Australian counterpart Scott Morrison on Thursday (June 4) in order to strengthen the "positive trajectory" in bilateral ties. The summit is significant because it is the first time that prime minister Modi would be holding a "bilateral" virtual summit with a foreign leader.
"Looking forward to catching up with @narendramodi shortly for the first ever Australia-India virtual summit," Morrison tweeted ahead of the summit.
Looking forward to catching up with @narendramodi shortly for the first ever Australia-India virtual summit. https://t.co/g61QW4nusF
— Scott Morrison (@ScottMorrisonMP) June 4, 2020
Sources said that during the meeting, the two leaders will focus on the positive trajectory in bilateral relations.
On Monday (June 1), Australian High Commissioner Barry O'Farrell had dropped hint saying Canberra and New Delhi could sign a crucial deal for reciprocal access to military bases for Mutual Logistics Support Arrangement (MLSA) during the summit.
MLSA will increase bandwidth for areas of operation for both Indian and Australian forces in the Indo pacific and comes at a time when China has been increasingly belligerent against India.
Sources told WION,"The focus would be on the positive trajectory in bilateral relations during discussions between the two Prime Ministers, who have already met on four occasions on the sidelines of multilateral meetings."
"As two democratic nations, India and Australia have developed an understanding of each other’s perspectives on regional and global issues. We have a shared approach to a free open, inclusive, and prosperous Indo-Pacific. This has led to the convergence of mutual interest in many areas," added the sources.
Sources said that during the meet, both sides will discuss issues like COVID-19 crisis, boosting science and technology cooperation, stronger collaboration on cybersecurity and critical technology, maritime issues in the Indo Pacific etc.
