india-Australia summit: PM Modi stresses on CECA's early conclusion

In the second India-Australia Virtual Summit Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Australian counterpart Scott Morrison on Monday took stock of progress made on various initiatives under the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. In his opening remarks at the summit, Prime Minister Modi has said that in the last few years the relation between India and Australia have made remarkable progress. He said, both nations have very close cooperation in several areas including trade and investment, Defense and security, education and innovation, science and technology. Modi said, the bilateral collaboration has also grown rapidly in many other areas, such as critical minerals, water management, renewable energy and Covid-19 research.He welcomed the announcement of the establishment of Center of Excellence for Critical and Emerging Technology Policy in Bangalore.

Modi said, the conclusion of Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement, CECA will be important for our economic ties, economic revival and economic security. He said, on this agreement, significant progress has been made in a very short time. Modi said, both the nation have also good cooperation in QUAD. He said, our collaboration reflects commitment to free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific. Prime Minister Modi also thanked his Australian counterpart Scott Morrison for taking the initiative to return ancient Indian antiquities. He said, many of the antiquities are over hundreds of years old which were taken out of the country illegally from the states like Rajasthan, West Bengal, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh.

In his remarks at the summit, Morrison spoke about the Russia-Ukraine war and said that the Kremlin must be held accountable for the loss of lives in Ukraine. He also said that last month's Quad meeting provided an opportunity to discuss the "implications and consequences" of the developments for the Indo-Pacific region. "Our region is facing increasing change and much pressure and I think our Quad leaders call recently gave us the opportunity to discuss Russia's unlawful invasion of Ukraine," the Australian PM said. "But it also gave us the opportunity to discuss the implications and consequences of that terrible event for our own region in the Indo-Pacific and the coercion and the issues that we face here."