India, Australia leaders to hold virtual summit on March 21
Darpan News Desk IANS, 17 Mar, 2022 11:27 AM
New Delhi, March 17 (IANS) Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Australian counterpart Scott Morrison will participate in the second India-Australia virtual summit on March 21, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said on Thursday.
External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said India and Australia virtual summit will be held on March 21 where Indian and Australian leaders will hold the summit.
"This summit follows the historic first virtual summit which was held on June 4, 2020 when our bilateral relationship was elevated to comprehensive strategic partnership," Bagchi said.
He also said that during this forthcoming virtual summit the leaders will take stock of progress made on various initiates under the comprehensive strategic partnership.
The virtual summit will lay forward the new initiatives and enhanced cooperation in a diverse range of sectors.
"The leaders are expected to commit to closer cooperation in trade, critical minerals, migration and mobility and education among others. "Views on regional and international issues will also be discussed," said the officer.
India, Australia comprehensive strategic partnership has maintained the momentum of upward trajectory.
Both countries continue to collaborate closely despite the Covid-19 pandemic in areas such as science and technology, cyber defence, critical and strategic minerals, public administration and governance.
Modi met Morrison in Washington for their first in person meeting after the Covid-19. This meeting was held last September on the margin of Quad leaders summit 2021.
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 militaries of the two countries to use each other's bases for repair and replenishment of supplies, besides facilitating scaling up of overall defence cooperation.
Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Tuesday said that he "personally" feels that alliance with the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) in Punjab had cost the BJP heavily.
India on Tuesday recorded 1,68,063 new Covid cases, taking the total tally to 8,21,446. Although the fresh infections were 6.4 per cent less than Monday when the country logged 1,79,723, the weekly positivity rate has climbed to 8.85 per cent and the daily positivity rate has declined to 10.64 per cent. On the other hand, 4,461 Omicron cases were recorded from 28 states.
Delhi reported a 25 per cent surge in Covid-19 cases after recording 19,166 fresh cases. With this, the infection tally has climbed to 15,68,896. Meanwhile, the city has recorded 17 Covid deaths on the second consecutive day, pushing the death toll to 25,177.
On Monday, after a detailed hearing in the matter, a bench, headed by Chief Justice N.V. Ramana and comprising Justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli, said the court will set up a committee headed by a retired top court judge to probe the PM's security breach and asked both the Centre and Punjab government to not move ahead with their respective inquiries into the matter.
Several Supreme Court advocates on Monday claimed to have received an international call with a recorded message asking the apex court not to help the Central government by taking up a case connected with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's security breach in Punjab last week.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Congress are projected to poll 40 per cent and 36 per cent votes in Punjab, respectively, as per the ABP-CVOTER Battle for the States survey. The 117-member Punjab Assembly will go to the polls on February 14, and the counting of votes will be taken up on March 10.
