Australia PM Anthony Albanese to arrive in India on his first visit, terms it 'enormous opportunity' for his country

Embarking on his first visit to India Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Wednesday said he was keen to further deepen Canberras multifaceted relationship with New Delhi at a time of extraordinary growth and dynamism especially in areas of trade security and peopletopeople linksAlbanese is visiting India at the invitation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and will be accompanied by a delegation of ministers and business leaders during his fourday tripHe will arrive in Ahmedabad on Wednesday and will visit Mumbai on Thursday before arriving in New Delhi later in the day External Affairs Ministry said in a statement in New DelhiThis trip demonstrates our commitment to deepening our links with India and to being a force for stability and growth in our region We have a historic opportunity to strengthen our relationship with India at a time of extraordinary growth and dynamism in our region Albanese tweetedHe said Australia is a better place because of its large diverse IndianAustralian communityAustralia and India have a rich friendship underpinned by our common interests our shared democratic values the bonds between our people and an affectionate but fierce sporting rivalry he tweetedAlso Read Australian PM to visit India set to strengthen ties in rare earth sectorPrime Minister Modi and his Australian counterpart Albanese are scheduled to watch the first day of the fourth Test between Australia and India at the Narendra Modi Stadium at Motera in the city on March 9This will be Albaneses first visit to India in his current roleThis is an important visit It will be my fourth meeting with Prime Minister Modi One of the first things I did as Prime Minister was travel to the Quad Leaders Meeting in Tokyo on May 24 of last year Australia and India are important partners We share common values We are both vibrant democracies We have an interest in improving our economic relations the prime minister said in a statementTerming the visit an enormous opportunity for Australia he said India is currently Australias sixth largest trading partner but can be much larger in the futureThe truth is that India along with Indonesia will grow to be the third and fourth largest economies in the world in coming years That presents an incredible opportunity for Australia And during this visit I will be giving at least seven speeches over the coming days talking about the opportunities which are there to have increased peopletopeople relations to educational transfers increased twoway investment increased engagement between our business communities he saidAlbanese said Australia shares a multifaceted relationship with IndiaIt is one of the peopletopeople relations the growing diaspora that is there in Australia is an asset for Australia he said asserting that peopletopeople links are very importantIts also about our trade but its also about our security relationship Operation Malabar will be hosted by Australia for the first time It will be important and those security relationships are also something that I will be having discussions with Prime Minister Modi on he saidAlbanese said he will attend the G20 meeting when it is hosted in India and will host the Quad leaders meeting in Australia in the first half of this year with Prime Minister Modi his Japanese counterpart Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and US President Joe BidenHe said Prime Minister Modi like the other leaders of the G20 is a strong supporter of shifting the energy focus including in India and noted that is essential to lower emissions and is important on issues like pollution in IndiaWe will be talking about the new industries and opportunities that Australia has whether it be the provision of lithium and other materials that are important for the shift to renewables The growth of areas like green hydrogen presents enormous opportunities India is a driver of new technology and innovation And there is a great scope for Australia and India to cooperate as we both transition for clean energy from an assist on trade he saidIndia and Australia share warm and friendly relations based on common values and democratic principles The Strategic Partnership between the two countries was elevated to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in June 2020 which has been strengthened and deepened through frequent highlevel exchanges and enhanced cooperation across sectorsPrime Minister Albaneses visit is expected to provide further momentum to the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership the External Affairs Ministry said in a statementAfter travelling to India Albanese will visit the United States for a bilateral meeting with President BidenI look forward to the continuing engagement that I have with the US Administrationiquest Ill be meeting with President Biden in the United States he saidThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and 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