India and Australia have agreed to step-up cooperation across maritime, land, air domains planning on interoperability and technology sharing. This is the outcome of the 9th India-Australia Defence Policy Talks held in New Delhi on Monday.
Led by India’s Joint Secretary Amitabh Prasad and Australia’s First Assistant Secretary Bernard Philip, talks focused on maritime domain awareness, reciprocal information exchange and joint scientific and industrial cooperation. Both sides promised to boost forces they will deploy from each other’s territory and building on defence industry cooperation.
The talks looked into the outcome of recent high level interactions which included the second Annual Leaders’ Summit in November 2024 and Ministerial 2+2 Dialogue. Both nations decided to enhance the preparations for the next 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue to be held in Australia this year. 
A statement from India’s Defence Ministry marked growing complexity and frequency of joint military exercises and finalisation of key agreements. “Also, and China and India sought quicker cooperation in defense science and technology,” it said.
The visit will also include the Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Ltd in Mumbai as well as a meeting between the delegation and India’s Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh to explore further industry partnerships.
India-Australia defence partnership has emerged as a core element of their strategic partnership, a shared dedication to regional security and technology.
