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India and Australia on Saturday agreed to further strengthen defence ties based on the &ldquo;growing convergence on security issues and a shared commitment for a free, open, prosperous and rules-based Indo-Pacific region,&rdquo; External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar said after the 2+2 ministers meeting held in New Delhi.</p>
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Jaishankar was addressing a joint press conference along with&nbsp; Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne and Defence Minister Peter Dutton who participated in the 2.2 ministerial dialogue with Defence Minister Raj Nath Singh also present from the Indian side.</p>
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Both India and Australia also came out strongly against terrorism, especially following the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan, as the world today marks the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on the United States.</p>
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&ldquo;India and Australia share an important partnership which is based on a shared vision of a free, open, inclusive and prosperous Indo-Pacific region. As two democracies we have a common interest in peace and prosperity of the entire region,&rdquo; Jaishankar said.</p>
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India and Australia, along with the United States and Japan, are members of the Quad, an informal grouping of the four large democracies in the Indo-Pacific region formed primarily to address the challenge of an increasingly powerful China.</p>
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The ministerial dialogue took place just ahead of the Indo-Pacific quad summit scheduled to be held in the US later this month.</p>
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Briefing journalists at the press conference, Defence Minister Raj Nath Singh said, &ldquo;On the bilateral defence cooperation we decided to expand military engagements across services, facilitate greater defence information sharing and to work closely for mutual logistics support,&rdquo;</p>
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In the context of Defence Cooperation, both sides were glad to note continued participation of Australia in the Malabar Exercises. We invited Australia to engage India&rsquo;s growing defence industry and to collaborate in co-production and co-development of defence equipment, he added.</p>
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Jaishankar also said significant progress in our defence cooperation framework and we have also set out an ambitious framework to further enhance our cooperation.</p>
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He said the peaceful development of the Indo-Pacific region has been a focus of the India-Australia&nbsp; relationship.</p>
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&ldquo;We reiterated our commitment to continue to work together for peace, stability and prosperity of all countries in the region. This would include a rules-based international order, freedom of navigation in international waters, promoting connectivity as well as respecting territorial integrity and sovereignty of all States,&rdquo; he added.</p>
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During the 2+2 dialogue the issue of Afghanistan also came up as a major subject of discussion. We agreed that the international community must be united in its approach, guided by UNSC Resolution, the Australian foreign minister said.</p>
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Both Australian ministers spoke strongly against terrorism in this context and agreed with India that Afghanistan must not allow the use of its soil for terror attacks against other countries.</p>
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The Australian foreign minister also emphasised the need to ensure human rights, especially those of women are respected in Afghanistan.</p>
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<strong>Also read: <a href="https://www.indianarrative.com/world-news/pm-modi-likely-to-travel-to-usa-for-quad-summit-on-sept-bilateral-meeting-with-biden-on-the-cards-113759.html">PM Modi likely to travel to USA for Quad summit on Sept 24, bilateral meeting with Biden on the cards</a></strong></p>
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