In Modi's First In-person Bilateral Meet After Covid, 'Trade, Defence & More' Discussed with Morrison

“Another chapter in our Comprehensive Strategic Partnership with Australia! PM @narendramodi and @ScottMorrisonMP met today. Discussed regional & global developments as well as ongoing bilateral cooperation in areas related to Covid-19, trade, defence, clean energy & more,” External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi tweeted.

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The Prime Minister’s Office said that the two leaders discussed a wide range of subjects aimed at deepening economic and “people-to-people linkages between India and Australia”.

PM Modi is scheduled to meet US vice president Kamala Harris next, following which he will meet Japanese counterpart Yoshihide Suga. The meetings come ahead of the first in-person Quad meeting to be hosted by US President Joe Biden.

The meeting between PM Modi and Morrison came a week after they spoke over phone and reviewed the rapid progress in the India-Australia Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, including through the recent ‘two-plus-two’ dialogue, and exchanged views on regional developments and the forthcoming Quad meeting.

The bilateral meeting also assumes significance as it came 12 days after External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh held the ‘two-plus-two’ talks in New Delhi with their Australian counterparts Marise Payne and Peter Dutton.

Earlier in the day, PM Modi held one-on-one meetings with top five American CEOs, including Indian-Americans Shantanu Narayen from Adobe and Vivek Lall from General Atomics.

Modi, who flew to the US at President Biden’s invitation to participate in the first in-person summit of Quad leaders, arrived in Washington on Wednesday to crowd of Indian Americans, chanting his name and waving the Indian flag. Despite heavy rains since early in the morning, a significant number of Indian Americans had gathered at the Andrews Joint Airforce Base to welcome the Prime Minister.

PM Modi was received at the airport by senior officials of the Biden Administration and India’s Ambassador to the US Taranjit Singh Sandhu. “Grateful to the Indian community in Washington DC for the warm welcome. Our diaspora is our strength. It is commendable how the Indian diaspora has distinguished itself across the world,” PM Modi tweeted.

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