INDIA NEWS
EDITORIAL
Comprehensive Strategic Partnership has evolved through the years
F
oreign policy mandarins, scholars and business leaders in Australia and India were gungho at the announcement of the ModiMorrison inaugural virtual summit on 4 June 2020. And rightly so. Australian High Commissioner Barry O’ Farrell said, “Over the last few months and years India and Australia have grown closer together. They are at a historical high”. But at this point in history it is also important to recall the highs and lows that the bilateral journey has endured and all those who were at the wheels. Kevin Rudd had to brave the “monkey-gate” cricket controversy, Muhammad Haneef case and Indian students’ safety concerns. Julia Gillard, reapproved the supply of uraniumsort out misgivings with New Delhi and Tony Abbot in close cooperation with India addressed the students’ issue
by cracking down on dubious education providers, tightening visa rules and stamping out corruption in the sector. A garlanded Malcolm Turnbull sitting on the footsteps of the Akshardham temple in New Delhi with PM Modi was a masterful soft touch to bilateral ties. And PM Scott Morrison’sculinary skills and Hindi tweets have made further inroads into Indian hearts and minds. Australia has also extended bipartisan political support to India in counterterrorism in the wake of deadly attacks, something New Delhi values very highly. Australia’s sport leadership has been acknowledged by PM Narendra Modi and former sporting greats like Matthew Hayden, Brett Lee, Adam Gilchrist,Olympic gold medallist Stephanie Rice among others and current players play a pivotal role in building relationships.
Australia is also helping India in widening participation of marginalised children and youth in sports. On the other hand, Indian cricketing greats Sachin Tendulkar and Yuvraj Singh flew down to participate in the Bushfire Appeal charity match which raise around A$ 7.7 million for firefighting, reconstruction and rehabilitation. IAIE’s Goodwill Ambassador to India Matthew Hayden also played in the match. Not many are aware that an Australian NGO “Doctors for You had provided upgraded equipment and set up 20 isolation and treatment beds in Patna in Bihar to fight Covid-19. Quite rightly, Australia and India have also invested in bolstering mutual country knowledge and Peter Varghese report,An India Economy Strategy to 2035: From Potential to Delivery” and the
complementary Australia Strategy by Ambassador Anil Wadhwa for the Confederation of Indian Industry need to be taken up by the top political leadership and actioned upon by all the relevant stakeholders on both sides. As New Colombo Plan and other fellowships aim to nurture a new generation of country experts there is a need for reinventing the old 3Cs (curry, cricket and commonwealth) with a nurturing a new 3C paradigm by both sides: Constituencies of Country Champions that will drive engagements. Australia’s demand for an international inquiry into the origins of the spread of Covid-19 has also found favours in New Delhi which backed the demands for the inquiry by WHO. So one can see a strong reciprocityand strong mutual backing emerging in bilateral
Dr Ashutosh Misra, Editor-in-Chief, India News engagements. In the rapidly altering international order, thanks to the Covid-19 battering, Australian businesses can now look for greater opportunities in India and vice versa. Australia India Comprehensive Strategic Partnership ushers in a pathbreaking phase in bilateral engagements something that India News group is now looking forward to harness. By Dr Ashutosh Misra
Australia and India: Next steps in the comprehensive strategic partnership
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he Australia-India relationship is in a sweet spot. The much-postponed virtual Summit between PM Modi and PM Morrison on 4 June confirmed the all-round improvement's quantum leap in their bilateral ties. Essentially, it is geopolitics, supplemented by economics that have galvanized this relationship. The Indian diaspora, now close to 700,000 and the Indian student community which has crossed the 100,000 figure, have ensured that India figures regularly in the political discourse in Australia. Ties have been elevated to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. The joint declaration on a shared vision for maritime cooperation in the Indo Pacific has laid out a concrete road map. Seven concrete MOUs agreed upon during the Summit will be the basis for enhanced economic and investment ties in the future. The mechanism of the 2+2 dialogue with the foreign and defence ministers meeting together at least once every two years signals the meeting of minds on threats and security issues facing both countries. Contrary to earlier expectations, the rise of China has not been peaceful, and Asia is facing the brunt of its aggressive policies, unjustified territorial claims, and policies aimed at cornering resources. India is currently facing multiple incursions from China on the Line of Actual Control on the Indo Chinese border. Australia is facing retaliation and pressure in trade through enhanced tariffs and anti-dumping measures for support of an independent assessment on the origins of the novel coronavirus and is still recovering from a vicious Chinese cyber-attack. China has aggressively moved to establish influence in the Western Pacific and there have been unconfirmed reports of China seeking bases in
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places like Vanuatu and Solomon Islands. The quest for natural resources with total disregard for transparency and fair practices in the Chinese policies towards the Pacific Island States has raised alarm not only in Australia, New Zealand and the United States but across the region. Chinese ocean mapping activities and the presence of PLA naval vessels in the Indian ocean has increased noticeably in the last year. Australia and India have reiterated a common approach to a free, open, inclusive and prosperous Indo – Pacific which guarantees freedom of navigation and overflights. The desire for unimpeded commerce and a rules-based order is a necessary strategy. The Indo – Australian joint statements support cooperation in multilateral fora, the centrality of Asean, India’s Indo Pacific Oceans Initiative, the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and the peaceful resolution of disputes as opposed to unilateral or coercive actions. A number of steps need to be taken now by both partners for translating their agreements into reality. In the geo strategic sphere, besides their bilateral consultations, Australia and India will need to step up the plate to actively participate in meetings and consultations in the framework of the Quad and Quad plus, their ongoing coordination with Japan and Indonesia, and for exchanging views on Australia’s Pacific set up and India’s Forum for India – Pacific Islands Cooperation (FIPIC). India will need to join the cooperative Blue Dot initiative, and pool in efforts with United States, Japan, Australia and New Zealand to come up with credible, transparent and alternate funding for projects in the Indo Pacific with Asean and the Pacific Island States in mind. They will need to work closely
together through the Asean and East Asia Summit institutions, and for strengthening international institutions like the WHO. They will need to strengthen interoperability, share technological advancements in the defence and strategy spheres, and look for ways to complement each other. A Mutual Logistics Support Arrangement has been agreed upon, which will allow use of each other’s facilities, and increase interoperability of their defence forces. Australian participation in the Malabar exercises should now become a natural corollary. The defence research organisations of the two countries now need to focus on agreed areas of cooperation like advanced sensors, underwater and hypersonic technologies. Indian shipyards are keen to cooperate with Australian shipbuilding industries. India will gladly work with Australian entities on its Mars and Moon missions. Space situational activities, calibration and validation of satellite data, sharing of meteorology and oceanographic data and establishment of ground stations are already identified areas of collaboration but require concrete tie ups. The framework arrangement on cyber and cyber-enabled critical technology cooperation requires follow up. Australia can emerge as a reliable supplier for 21 out of 49 minerals identified by India’s critical minerals strategy and for India’s e-mobility programme. Diversification and expansion of the existing resources partnership through mining and processing of critical and strategic minerals will also require that the two countries collaborate on new technologies. In the light of India’s new mining policy, Australian companies need to scout for opportunities aggressively. India has a target of training 400 million youth by 2022
and the MOU signed during the virtual Summit on cooperation should be utilized by the Australian Vocational Education System for enhancing Australian presence in the areas of training curriculum, aligning Indian accreditation and assessment to global standards, improving trainer quality and conducting joint training workshops. A new collaborative agreement on water resources management, training and education, and for developing sustainable solutions for water and economic development and water recycling requires implementation through the identification of partners across the board in India. Opportunities identified by the leaders in immunology, development of vaccines, circular economy, surface coal gasification, waste to wealth processes can all be translated into action under the framework of a strengthened cooperation under the Australia India Scientific Reserve Fund (AISRF). A start up cooperative fund and a separate fund for enhancing collaboration in humanities between the two countries is the need of the hour. Australia is an ideal partner for India in grains management, rationalization of costs and logistics. Australian pension funds need to keep themselves engaged in India’s infrastructure development requirements. India and Australia need to quickly resume their bilateral talks on the stalled Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA). I have been working on a report which is a response to Australia’s India Economic Strategy Report 2035 – this now awaits final approvals. Australian businesses will benefit immensely from opportunities and market that India offers for scaling up technologies in med tech, health tech, edu tech, water technologies, shipbuilding and
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Ambassador Anil Wadhwa startups. Collaborations in digital gaming and animation, fin tech, textile designing, sports technologies and equipment, renewable energy and power, food processing, dairy technologies, healthcare, clinical trials and pharmaceuticals; besides the strong areas of mining and resources, technology and services, agriculture and education will immensely strengthen the bilateral economic relationship. Now is the time for Australian businesses to look at diversification, and the advantages and opportunities that the Indian market can offer. Indian business will need to seriously look again at the advantages offered by investments in Australian resources, renewable energy, pharmaceuticals and agriculture. Both sides need to ramp up efforts for a strong, reliable, and mutually beneficial relationship. By Ambassador Anil Wadhwa Ambassador Anil Wadhwa is a former Secretary (East) in the Ministry of External Affairs of India and currently, a Distinguished Fellow with the Vivekananda International Foundation based in New Delhi. He is leading a Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) team which has worked on an Australia Economic Strategy Report.
JULY 2020
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