India, Australia underscore maritime freedom and supply chain security

India and Australia on Monday underscored the importance of freedom of navigation, overflight and unimpeded maritime trade amid disruptions in energy supply chains following the West Asia crisis as well as concerns over China's increasing assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific. These issues figured prominently during wide-ranging talks between Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Australian Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles in New Delhi. The two ministers affirmed the importance of enhancing cooperation with regional partners to help maintain a free, open, peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific while emphasising the strategic importance of defence industrial collaboration and engagement between India and Australia.
In a statement, the Defence Ministry said that during the meeting both the leaders welcomed the significant progress in the bilateral relation, and reflected on the enhanced consultation and cooperation since the inaugural edition of the dialogue in October last year. The Ministers announced that India and Australia would begin developing a Memorandum of Understanding regarding the Provision of Defence Articles and Defence Services as the next step in deepening defence industrial collaboration. Both the Ministers looked forward to exploring future defence science and technology research cooperation in new technology areas like sensor technologies. The Australian Deputy Prime Minister also invited India to participate in the 2026 Australian Defence Science, Technology, and Research Summit.
Marles said at a media briefing that ramping up the overall trajectory of the defence ties will be an important component of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's upcoming visit to Australia. Marles said the two sides are exploring cooperation in underwater activity against a backdrop of "more grey zone activity" targeting seabed infrastructure across the world. The Australian deputy prime minister said the rules-based order in the maritime domain needs to apply on the seabed too.