Australian PM Albanese announces his 'important' visit to India in March 2023

Sydney, Nov 18: The Prime Minister of Australia Anthony Albanese has announced that he would visit India in March 2023 with a business delegation to lock India-Australia Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (ECTA) deal and upgrade the relationship between the two nations.

The Australian PM, while addressing the press on Wednesday, said, "I also met with Prime Minister Modi of India, where we discussed the finalisation of the closer economic cooperation agreement between Australia and India, which we regard as being very important for expanding the economic relationship between Australia and India. I will visit India in March. We'll take a business delegation to India. And that will be an important visit and an upgrade in the relationship that we have between our two nations," ANI quoted him as saying.

The Australian PM announced this on the sidelines of the 17th edition of the G20 summit which was held in Bali, Indonesia.

Albanese also said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Australia next year to participate in the Quad Leaders' meeting. Then the Australian PM will return to India later in the year for the G20 Summit.

The Australian PM added, "We also spoke about the details of the Quad Leaders' meeting that will take place next year."

PM Modi met the Australian PM Albanese on the sidelines of the G-20 Summit in Bali

Notably, PM Modi met the Australian PM on the sidelines of the G-20 Summit in Bali recently. During the meeting, both leaders reiterated their stand for a shared and peaceful Indo-Pacific region.

"The Leaders exchanged views on regional and global issues of mutual interest, which included their shared vision for a stable and peaceful Indo-Pacific Region, climate-related matters and India's G20 Presidency," read Prime Minister's Office press release.

About the meeting, the office of the Prime Minister of India tweeted, "PM @narendramodi had a meeting with PM Anthony Albanese of Australia, on the sidelines of the G-20 Summit, in Bali. They reviewed the progress made in deepening cooperation across a diverse range of sectors as well as regional and global issues of mutual interest. @AlboMP."

Both Leaders expressed satisfaction at the excellent state of relations between the two countries under the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership and the high-level interactions taking place on a regular basis between India and Australia.

"They reviewed the progress made in deepening cooperation across a diverse range of sectors, including defence, trade, education, clean energy and people-to-people ties. Institutional partnership in the field of education, especially in higher education, vocational education, training and capacity building was discussed in detail," read a statement issued by the ministry of external affairs, India.

India-Australia ECTA deal

India and Australia signed the free trade agreement earlier this year. The trade deal is reported to be implemented soon.

Both nations signed an interim free trade deal-Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (ECTA) in April. However, the ratification of the deal in the Australian Parliament remains pending.

Commerce minister Piyush Goyal on November 1 said that the early implementation of the India-Australia ECTA was in the best interest of both countries.

Goyal held a virtual meeting with Australia's Trade and Tourism Minister HE Don Farrell. Both leaders reviewed and appreciated the progress made in the ratification of the IndAus ECTA.

(With inputs from ANI)