India PM Narendra Modi meets Australian PM Scott Morrison ahead of Quad summit

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Australian counterpart Scott Morrison held a bilateral meeting in Washington DC, the United States on Thursday. This is the first time the two leaders have met in person since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020. 

The bilateral meeting between the two Prime Ministers comes ahead of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) summit, which is scheduled to commence on September 24. Along with Modi and Morrison, leaders from the United States (President Joe Biden) and Japan (Yoshihide Suga) will be attending the meeting.     

The meeting between Modi and Morrison came a week after they spoke over the phone and reviewed the rapid progress in the India-Australia Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, including through the recent ‘two-plus-two’ dialogue, and exchanged views on regional developments and the forthcoming Quad meeting, according to PTI inputs.

“Another chapter in our Comprehensive Strategic Partnership with Australia! PM @narendramodi and @ScottMorrisonMP met today. Discussed regional & global developments as well as ongoing bilateral cooperation in areas related to Covid-19, trade, defence, clean energy & more,” the PMO said in a tweet.

It was the first meeting between the prime ministers of India and Australia since the AUKUS (Australia, the UK and the US) security partnership was unveiled last week by US President Biden, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Morrison.

The AUKUS partnership, seen as an effort to counter China in the Indo-Pacific, will allow the US and the UK to provide Australia with the technology to develop nuclear-powered submarines for the first time.

Australia said its decision to join a security alliance with the US and the UK is aimed at developing capabilities that can contribute along with India and other countries in deterring behaviour that threatens the peace and security in the Indo-Pacific.

In the first reaction from India on the contentious alliance, Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla on Tuesday said that the new security agreement among the US, the UK and Australia is neither relevant to the Quad nor will have any impact on its functioning, and they are not groupings of a similar nature.

Reportedly, part of the Quad agenda is to review the ‘Quad Vaccine’ initiative as part of their ongoing efforts to tackle COVID-19. They will also discuss other global issues such as technology, infrastructure, cyber security, humanitarian assistance, climate change and others.  

The world leaders also expected to review the progress of the work previously done by the diplomatic grouping since their first virtual summit in March earlier this year, India’s Ministry of External Affairs had earlier said.