Antony to visit Australia to boost military ties

To forge stronger military ties, Defence Minister A K Antony will be on a four-day visit to Australia where he is expected to discuss cooperation between the navies of the two countries.

In his maiden visit to Australia beginning June 3, Antony would be accompanied by a high-level delegation, including new Defence Secretary Radha Krishna Mathur.

During the visit, the two sides would discuss cooperation in counter terrorism and bilateral naval exercises, Ministry sources said.

Antony is also likely to make stopovers in Singapore and Thailand.

The visit by the Defence Minister to Australia was earlier scheduled to be held in January this year, but it was postponed by the government.

The two countries are in the process of having regular bilateral naval exercise and issue of cooperation in maritime security in the Indian Ocean Region is expected to come up for discussion during talks between Antony and his counterpart Stephen Smith in Canberra.

In 2011, Smith had visited India when the two countries had agreed upon ensuring freedom of navigation in international waters against the backdrop of the controversy over the South China Sea.

The two ministers had also agreed to examine the possibility of undertaking a full-fledged bilateral naval exercise in future and institute a Track 1.5 dialogue (at semi-government level) on defence matters.

In a recently released 'Defence White Paper', Australia has mentioned the rise of India in the global framework and said, "India is emerging as an important strategic, diplomatic and economic actor, 'looking East', and becoming more engaged in regional frameworks.