Today I met with a delegation of senior Indian security, diplomatic and academic leaders, led by India’s Deputy National Security Adviser Vijay Latha Reddy and former Foreign Secretary Ambassador Shyam Saran.
The delegation was accompanied by India’s High Commissioner to Australia Sujatha Singh.
The delegation visited Australia to participate in the Lowy Institute for International Policy’s 2011 Australia India Roundtable in Sydney earlier this week. I expressed my regret to the delegation that I was unable to deliver the keynote address at the Roundtable as I was not granted a pair from the Parliament by the Opposition.
There is much that Australia and India can do together on a bilateral and regional basis for regional security and stability.
In signing the 2009 Joint Declaration on Security Cooperation, Australia and India affirmed our shared desire to promote regional and global security, as well as our common commitment to democracy, human rights and the rule of law.
I discussed with the delegation the strengthening links between India and Australia’s defence forces. Our Chiefs of Defence Force engage in regular dialogue and we have increased the seniority and frequency of the bilateral defence strategic dialogue.
In recent years, our defence forces have commenced joint exercises, particularly in the maritime domain. Military engagement is now occurring across the full range of activities, including ship visits, professional exchanges, and collaboration in research and development. I discussed with the delegation opportunities to expand those activities.
Australia recently joined the Indian Ocean Naval Symposium (IONS), an initiative of the Indian Navy. Australia will host the IONS Conclave of Chiefs in 2014.
We discussed Australia-India cooperation in the Indian Ocean Rim Association for Regional Cooperation (IOR-ARC). India is current IOR-ARC chair and Australia the vice chair.
Other senior members of the delegation included Joint Secretary of India’s National Security Council Secretariat Sujan R Chinoy, Joint Secretary of Public Diplomacy at the Ministry of External Affairs Navdeep Suri, Director-General of the Research and Information System for Developing Countries Dr Biswajit Dhar, Senior Fellow at the National Maritime Foundation Commodore Uday Bhaskar and Senior Fellow at the Centre for Policy Research Dr C Raja Mohan.