Rajnath holds phone conversation with Australian counterpart Richard Marles

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday spoke to his Australian counterpart Richard Marles during which both leaders reaffirmed the commitment of two sides to strengthen bilateral defence ties. The telephonic conversation came a day ahead of talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese in Delhi.

"Spoke to the Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister of Australia, Mr @RichardMarlesMP. India & Australia share a comprehensive strategic partnership and the call today was an opportunity to reiterate our commitment towards further strengthening of our defence cooperation," Singh tweeted.

The defence ministry said both ministers reaffirmed their commitment to further strengthening the bilateral defence relationship.


"The telecon was reflective of the trust and friendship the two countries share especially in matters related to defence and security," it said.

"India and Australia are pursuing a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership and the defence cooperation between the two countries have been consistently deepening in recent years," it added.

In June 2020, India and Australia elevated their ties to a comprehensive strategic partnership and signed a landmark deal for reciprocal access to military bases for logistics support.

The Mutual Logistics Support Agreement (MLSA) allows the militaries of the two countries to use each other's bases for repair and replenishment of supplies, besides facilitating the scaling up of overall defence cooperation.

In August last year, four Sukhoi-30 MKI fighter jets and two C-17 heavy-lift aircraft of the Indian Air Force joined a 17-nation air combat exercise in Australia.

Over 100 aircraft and 2500 personnel from Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Indonesia, India, Japan, Malaysia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Philippines, the Republic of Korea, the UAE, Singapore, Thailand, the US and the UK participated in the exercise in Australia's Northern Territory.

Australia is set to host the Malabar naval exercise later this year. It will involve the navies of India, Australia, Japan and the US.