Sydney: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar Wednesday met his Australian counterpart Penny Wong and said that both countries are increasingly demonstrating their ability to go beyond the bilateral and collaborate at the regional and global level.
Jaishankar described his meeting with Wong as “excellent”.
“An excellent meeting this afternoon with FM @SenatorWong of Australia. The follow-up to the Prime Ministers’ Summit has commenced. India and Australia are increasingly demonstrating their ability to go beyond the bilateral and collaborate at the regional and global level,” Jaishankar tweeted.
Earlier, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese held a bilateral meeting. Modi raised India’s concerns over incidents of attacks on temples and activities of pro-Khalistani elements in Australia.
“An honour to meet with @narendramodi and @DrSJaishankar with @AlboMP. As PM Modi has said, our relationship is based on the three ‘Ds’: democracy, diaspora and dosti – or friendship. We are investing in our partnership to grow our trade, defence and people-to-people ties,” Wong tweeted.
Prime Minister Modi Tuesday said that there was a time when 3Cs used to define relations between India and Australia. These three were – Commonwealth, Cricket and Curry.
“After that, it was 3Ds… Democracy, Diaspora and Dosti! Then it became 3Es, it was all about Energy, Economy and Education. But the truth is that the actual depth of the relation between India and Australia transcends these C, D, E…” Modi said while addressing a packed Qudos Bank Arena here.
The event was also attended by Albanese.
PTI