‘New landmarks’ ahead in ties as PM Modi prepares for Australia trip, says Australian high commissioner Philip Green
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "‘New landmarks’ ahead in ties as PM Modi prepares for Australia trip, says Australian high commissioner Philip Green")
Australian High Commissioner Philip Green OAM welcomed India’s growing Pacific engagement. Photograph: (WION)
PM Narendra Modi’s upcoming visit to Australia is expected to deliver new landmarks in defence, economics, culture and sport, said High Commissioner Philip Green. He highlighted the warm welcome awaiting the Indian PM from Australia’s Indian-origin community, now exceeding one million.
New Delhi: Australia and India are accelerating their strategic partnership, with fresh momentum in defence, maritime security and trade, Australia’s High Commissioner to India, Philip Green, has said.
In an interview to WION’s Sidhant Sibal, Green described the past fortnight, featuring visits by Australia’s Foreign Minister, Defence Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, as evidence of a relationship “going ahead very fast”. He said leaders are now working towards a new high-level defence agreement to replace the 2009 framework.
“We have a bilateral relationship... it’s a question of how much we can harvest at this important moment,” Green said.
Maritime cooperation featured prominently, and was mentioned 11 times in a recent joint statement after defence dialogue. Green emphasised the shared Indian Ocean geography: “Neither of us can truly understand what’s going on alone... our ambition [is] to have a maritime domain collaboration roadmap.”
He confirmed work on a new overarching defence declaration, adding, “Leaders have challenged us to identify what our new level of defence collaboration looks like... we are shooting towards a new and high-level joint declaration.”
On defence industry, Green noted growing interest in niche Australian technologies. “We have very unique capabilities in the fields of drones and sensors, including in the underwater space... natural complementarity” with India’s scale and manufacturing capacity.
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s upcoming visit to Australia is expected to deliver “new landmarks” in defence, economics, culture and sport. Green highlighted the warm welcome awaiting the Indian Prime Minister from Australia’s Indian-origin community, now exceeding one million. “The relationship between our two Prime Ministers is really at a very high level,” he said. The diaspora acts as a “living bridge”, with Indians twice as likely to start businesses and highly engaged in community life. Cricket, Green noted, symbolises the link, Singh and Patel rank among the top names registered with Cricket Australia.
Australia is expanding its university presence in India, with two campuses already operating and more planned. Green called it a shift from a “one-way street”, offering quality education at lower cost while maintaining student flows (around 140,000 Indians currently in Australia).
On student visas, he defended additional scrutiny for Indian applicants as necessary for integrity, saying genuine students face “no particular problem”.
Trade has boomed under the Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (ECTA). India’s exports to Australia have grown 200% in five years, five times faster than to the rest of the world.
Negotiations for the next phase are “lively”, though Green said the focus is on a “good deal, not a quick deal”.
Both nations are strengthening counter-terrorism and intelligence ties. Green noted Prime Minister Albanese’s swift outreach after the Pahalgam attack and Australia’s condemnation of the Mumbai incident.
In the Quad, recent foreign ministers’ meetings advanced a maritime surveillance initiative (now including India) focused on the Indian Ocean and practical projects like a Fiji port. Green rejected talk of the Quad heading for a “dead end”, calling it “alive and kicking” with strong collegiality among the foreign ministers.
Energy cooperation spans coal, LNG, renewables and potential uranium supplies.
On Khalistani extremism, Australia reaffirmed support for India’s territorial integrity while stressing peaceful protest rights and protection of Indian diplomatic properties.
Green welcomed India’s growing Pacific engagement, citing quick Indian aid after disasters in Vanuatu and Papua New Guinea, and said Australia is supporting it with “appropriate technologies”.
The relationship, High Commissioner Green pointed, offers “two great batting sides” ready to score many runs together.
