Australia eyeing Indian Ocean deal with New Delhi

New Delhi: India and Australia are close to finalising a new roadmap for maritime cooperation, with the pact likely to be inked this year, said the high commissioner of Australia to India, Philip Green, adding that Australia sees India as a key security partner in the Indo-Pacific.

Speaking to ET days after the release of the new Australian defence strategy that identifies India as one of its main security partners, Green said it is natural for both nations to share resources and capabilities in the Indian Ocean as higher levels of strategic trust are achieved.

"Australia and India will collaborate in a range of fields and a range of domains, but where our collaboration is most important is where our strategic interests overlap, and that follows geography," the envoy said, adding that this would be in the northeast Indian ocean, which is becoming increasingly contested and requires joint resources for monitoring.


"We are succeeding in deepening our defence partnership across training, across exercising, across sharing strategy and intelligence and across industry. So, for all of those reasons, India is a natural strategic partner for Australia, especially in regard to the Indian Ocean," he said.

Green said that in the past, the bilateral relationship had been defined by joint exercises, exchanges and visits, and that the two nations did not focus on collaboration between their defence industries. This will change, he said, as Australia's new defence strategy requires it to develop new sovereign defence capabilities, and modest steps are being taken towards deepening defence tech collaboration with India.

"We had the first-ever Australian defence commercial delegation come to India last year. We had a round table at the most recent Raisina dialogue on defence industry and tech collaboration. The defence industry side is an increasing area of engagement," Green said.