Ahead of India-Australia summit, Foreign Secy Shringla discusses bilateral ties with Australian envoy

Ahead of the first India-Australia virtual summit, Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla on Wednesday met Australian High Commissioner Barry O'Farrell and reviewed the progress in bilateral relations between the two countries.

"In run-up to 1st India-Australia Leaders' Virtual Summit on 4 June 2020, Foreign Secretary @harshshringla met Barry O'Farrell, Australian High Commissioner to India @AusHCIndia, welcomed him and reviewed progress in bilateral relations in political, economic and defence domains," Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Anurag Srivastava tweeted.

"India and Australia have agreed to elevate their relations to a 'Comprehensive Strategic Partnership', anchored in mutual trust and shared interests," he said.

The India-Australia Virtual Leaders' Summit is scheduled to be held on Thursday.

On Monday, Barry O'Farrell said that India-Australia relations will "scale greater heights" with the virtual summit.

The envoy said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Australian counterpart Scott Morrison will be discussing how their countries are dealing with COVID-19 and they may share "commentary on the hard task of how to ease restrictions and not lose sight of lives".

During the summit, the two leaders are expected to ramp up efforts to diversify Australia's export markets and find trusted suppliers of vital products and components, a local newspaper, The Australian, had reported.

( With inputs from ANI )