New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi told the Indian diaspora in Sydney Tuesday that the relationship between India and Australia was built on mutual trust and mutual respect.
He said, “Earlier, it was said that India and Australian relations were defined by the 3Cs – ‘Commonwealth, Cricket and Curry’. Then it was said that our relationship was defined by ‘Democracy, Diaspora and Dosti’. Some people also said our relationship depends on ‘Energy, Economy and Education’… We might prepare food in different manners but Masterchef is also connecting us now… But I believe the relation between India-Australia is beyond this — it is mutual trust and mutual respect.”
Modi credited Indians in Australia as the “reason and strength” behind these good relations, which superseded the two countries’ diplomatic prowess.
Modi also announced a new consulate in Brisbane to “fulfill the Indian diaspora’s long-standing demand”.
Speaking before Modi, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called him “the boss” at the community event in Sydney’s Qudos Bank Arena – one of the city’s biggest indoor stadiums — where the two leaders addressed the Indian diaspora.
Albanese told a cheering crowd: “I said to my friend the Prime Minister before that the last time I saw someone on the stage here was Bruce Springsteen and he didn’t get the welcome that Prime Minister Modi has got. Prime Minister Modi is the boss.”
#WATCH | "The last time I saw someone on this stage was Bruce Springsteen and he did not get the welcome that Prime Minister Modi has got. Prime Minister Modi is the boss," says Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at the community event in Sydney pic.twitter.com/3nwrmjvDaR
— ANI (@ANI) May 23, 2023
Alabanese recalled his trip to India in March, saying everywhere he went, he “felt a deep connection between the people of Australia and India”. “It is a warmth I also felt when I backpacked around India for five weeks in 1991. And I say this to my friends from the Australian Parliament who are here today – If you want to understand India, travel by train and by bus,” Albanese said.
Modi got a rousing welcome at the arena Tuesday evening, packed to capacity with overseas Indians – some of whom flew in on a chartered plane from Melbourne in the morning.
The Prime Minister arrived in Sydney on Monday in the last leg of his three-nation tour of Japan, Papua New Guinea and Australia. He will be in Australia for three days this time, his second visit since 2014.
Ahead of his arrival, Anthony Albanese said in a statement: “I am honoured to host Prime Minister Modi for an official visit to Australia, after receiving an extremely warm welcome in India earlier this year.”
Albanese also said Australia and India shared a commitment to “a stable, secure and prosperous Indo-Pacific”.
At a bilateral meeting on Wednesday the two leaders will discuss trade and investment, renewable energy, and defence and security cooperation.
On this trip, Modi was first in Hiroshima, Japan to participate in the G7 summit where India was invited as a guest country.
In Papua New Guinea, he hosted the third summit of the Forum for India-Pacific Islands Co-operation jointly with the country’s premier James Marape.
He was also awarded the highest civilian awards of Fiji and Papua New Guinea for his efforts at “championing the unity of Pacific Island countries and spearheading the cause of the Global South”.
In Sydney Tuesday, Modi interacted with prominent public figures of Australia “working in diverse fields of science, artificial intelligence, humanities, social work, gastronomy, art and music,” the Ministry of External Affairs tweeted.
He “encouraged them to contribute to strengthening the India-Australia relationship”.
Some 170 Indian-origin people took a chartered flight from Melbourne to Sydney in the morning to attend the community event addressed by the Prime Minister. These members of the Indian Australian Diaspora Foundation (IADF) sported the tri-colour on their clothes and turbans, waved flags and even danced their way to the Qantas flight which they rebranded “Modi Airways”.
Local ABC News reported that Indians in Queensland chartered a train to Sydney, calling it the “Modi Express”.
The IADF organised the Sydney event to celebrate Australia’s diverse Indian community, “a core part of our multicultural community”, the Australian government said in a statement.
India and Australia signed a free trade deal last year, the first between India and a developed country in a decade. The Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement came into effect in December, removing duties on 96% of Indian exports to Australia and 85% of Australian exports to India.
India is Australia’s sixth largest trading partner, while around 750,000 people in Australia claim Indian ancestry.
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