Prime Minister Narendra Modi has met his Australian counterpart Scott Morrison here ahead of the first in-person Quad meeting to be hosted by US President Joe Biden and discussed a broad range of issues of bilateral, regional and global importance, including the Indo-Pacific. The meeting between Modi and Morrison on Thursday came a week after they spoke over phone and reviewed the rapid progress in the India-Australia Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, including through the recent 'two-plus-two' dialogue, and exchanged views on regional developments and the forthcoming Quad meeting.

This was the first in-person meeting between the two leaders in the post-pandemic period. 'They reviewed progress since the last leader's summit that was held virtually in June 2020, and they resolved to continue their close partnership and cooperation for the mutual wellbeing of both sides,' Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla told reporters while details of the meeting. The last bilateral meeting was the Leaders' Virtual Summit held on June 4 last year when the Strategic Partnership between India and Australia was elevated to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in a statement.