- Prelims: Current events of international importance(Indo-Pacific, Regional forums, India-Australia etc
- Mains GS Paper II: Bilateral, regional and global grouping involving India, Significance of Indo-Pacific for India etc
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
- Distinguished thought leaders from India and Australia meet in New Delhi for the fifth round of the most important bilateral Track 1.5 dialogue.
- It is widely recognised that Australia’s relationship with India is among the most important and critical for the future of the Indo-Pacific.
INSIGHTS ON THE ISSUE
Context
India-Australia Relations:
- In recent years, the India-Australia bilateral relationship has undergone evolution, developing along a positive track, into a friendly partnership.
- Common between the two nations:
- Shared values of a pluralistic
- Westminster-style democracies
- Commonwealth traditions
- Expanding economic engagement
- Increasing high level interaction
Areas of Cooperation:
A gradual change in India-Australia relations and commons: India and Australia used to celebrate each other’s problems rather than successes.
- Rule of law: Apart from being two English-speaking, multicultural, federal democracies that believe in and respect the rule of law
- Strategic interest: Both have a strategic interest in ensuring a balance in the Indo-Pacific and in ensuring that the region is not dominated by any one hegemonic power.
- Skilled migrants: In addition, Indians are today the largest source of skilled migrants in Australia.
- Australia-India Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (ECTA): The economic relationship, already robust, could potentially be transformed if the promise of the new Australia-India Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (ECTA) is realized.
Importance of India-Australia Leadership Dialogue:
The Australia-India Leadership Dialogue is critical because ideas matter in a relationship as much transactions and negotiations do.
- New energy in relationship: These can provide the space and the ambience that can infuse new ideas to generate a new energy into the relationship.
- People are real connectors: The Leadership Dialogue is also important because ultimately, people and real connections matter.
- Technology and the cyberworld can blind us into believing that face-to-face conversations are outdated.
- Emerging technologies: As the premier forum for informal diplomacy between Australia and India, backed by Australian-founded tech company Atlassian, outcomes that grow the relationship through emerging technology are high on the agenda.
- Alternative to China: Australia wants to find alternative markets to China and diversify supply chains for its critical minerals.
- Carbon reduction programme: As a country with reserves of about 21 out of the 49 minerals identified in India’s critical minerals strategy.
- Australia is well placed to serve India’s national interests required for India’s carbon reduction programme.
Significance of Indo-Pacific region for India:
- Strategic significance: The Indo-Pacific is a multipolar region that accounts for over half of global GDP and population.
- Mineral Resources: Maritime regions have also become important storage areas for essential resources such as fish stocks, minerals, and offshore oil and gas.
- Economic Growth: The Indo-Pacific area accounts for approximately 60% of world GDP, making it the most important contributor to global growth.
- Commerce: Many of the world’s most important choke points for global trade are located in this region, including the Straits of Malacca, which are crucial for global economic growth.
Way Forward
- Enhancing shared framework: While this is the first Dialogue since 2019, two nations have only grown closer together through enhancing shared framework for regional security, promoting business and commercial opportunities and strengthening people to people links, bilaterally and multilaterally.
- Fifth largest global economy: As India marks 75 years of Independence and surpasses the United Kingdom as the fifth largest global economy, the momentum around this fifth Australia-India Leaderships Dialogue and the bilateral fruit it may bear should not be underestimated.
- Diplomatic maneuvering and economic and military assertion: Appropriate diplomatic maneuvering and economic and military assertion is vital for the implementation of India’s interests in the Indi-Pacific region along with leveraging space as a building block for a multipolar world order.
- Rule based multipolar order: India’s view is to work with other like-minded countries in the Indo-Pacific region to cooperatively manage a rules-based multipolar regional order and prevent any single power from dominating the region or its waterways.
QUESTION FOR PRACTICE
- Quadrilateral Security Dialogue is transforming itself into a trade block from the military alliance, in present times. Discuss.(UPSC 2020)
(200 WORDS, 10 MARKS)
