Increased cooperation in the energy sector, especially India importing uranium from Australia, will be a key element of Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi’s visit to Canberra, which could take place in July. While the final itinerary is still being developed, Modi is also slated to visit New Zealand and Indonesia alongside Australia.
Strengthening energy cooperation will also be in focus during Japanese PM Sanae Takaichi’s visit to India later this year, with Tokyo keen to provide assistance, including financial help, to New Delhi to build its strategic reserves.
Australian PM Anthony Albanese on Thursday told the Australian Parliament that he looked forward to hosting Modi again. “That is an extraordinary opportunity for us in our region. We are a Pacific nation, but we are an Indian Ocean nation as well,” Albanese said. Modi last visited Australia in May 2023.
At his bilateral meeting with visiting Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong on Tuesday, External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar said the two countries are holding discussions to move from the Economic Cooperation or Trade Agreement (ECTA), signed in December 2022, to a Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA).
Jaishankar said India and Australia are looking to expand energy trade, including uranium supplies. “Our own nuclear sector has undergone reforms, which will grow nuclear energy,” he said, according to the readout of the meeting that the Australian side released. “Our teams have been in discussion on critical minerals as well,” Jaishankar said.
Wong said India and Australia are important energy partners to each other. “India supplies Australia with refined fuel that helps power our mining, energy, agricultural sectors. We provide you with coal and iron ore, which help underpin the Make in India programme,” Wong said. She was in India to attend the Quad Foreign Ministers’ meeting, but also held the 17th India-Australia Foreign Ministers’ Framework Dialogue with Jaishankar.
In his address to the Australian Parliament on Thursday, Albanese said the ECTA had enhanced the trading relationship between the two countries. He said the Indian community in Australia has strengthened the country’s economy and benefited countless small businesses.
During Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi’s visit to New Delhi for the Quad meeting, Japanese officials expressed Tokyo’s keenness to help strengthen India’s energy resilience through Japan’s Partnership On Wide Energy and Resources Resilience (POWERR Asia), and the $2 billion Southeast Asia Investment Financing Facility, which could involve augmenting India’s strategic reserves and also help New Delhi move away from its reliance on West Asia for its energy sourcing.
