Modi-Morrison virtual meet: India, Australia to sign interim trade deal by March end

New Delhi, Mar 20: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Prime Minister of Australia Scott Morrison will hold the second India-Australia Virtual Summit on Monday. Australia is hopeful of concluding an early harvest trade deal with India by the end of this month.

The summit is expected to further enhance overall comprehensive strategic ties between the two sides including in areas of trade and investment.

"We are hopeful of signing the Phase one (early harvest) trade deal by end of this month," Australian High Commissioner to India Barry O'Farrell told reporters.

Monday's summit follows the historic first Virtual Summit of 4 June 2020 when the relationship was elevated to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.

During the upcoming virtual summit, the Leaders will take stock of progress made on various initiatives under the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. The virtual summit will lay the way forward on new initiatives and enhanced cooperation in a diverse range of sectors between India and Australia. The Leaders are expected to commit to closer cooperation in trade, critical minerals, migration and mobility, and education, among others.

Views on regional and international issues of mutual interest will also be discussed by the Leaders. The Summit highlights the importance attached by both countries to their bilateral relations as also their close cooperation on regional and global issues.

The India-Australia Comprehensive Strategic Partnership has maintained the momentum of an upward trajectory with both countries continuing to collaborate closely, despite the Covid-19 pandemic, in wide-ranging areas including science and technology, defence, cyber, critical and strategic materials, water resource management, as well as public administration and governance.

Prime Minister Modi and Prime Minister Morrison met in Washington DC for the first in-person meeting after the Covid-19 pandemic in September 2021 on the margins of the Quad Leaders' Summit and jointly launched the Infrastructure for Resilient Island States (IRIS) in Glasgow on the margins of the COP26 in November 2021.