India, Aus ties have moved to a higher level

Australia backs India's efforts to combat terrorism and the halting of military actions with Pakistan last month was "an act of Indian leadership", Australian deputy prime minister Richard Marles said on Wednesday, while outlining Canberra's plans to foster closer defence and security ties with New Delhi.

- Rezaul H Laskar

NEW DELHI:

In a conversation with HT, Marles, who is also defence minister, spoke about China's backing of Pakistan during recent clashes with India, saying both Delhi and Canberra feel China's massive military build-up has had "an impact on the strategic landscape of the Indo-Pacific", and expressed hope that an India-Australia comprehensive economic cooperation agreement (CECA) will be concluded soon. Edited excerpts: As India and Australia mark five years of their comprehensive strategic partnership, you've said the re-elected Albanese government is going to be more ambitious. How do you look back at these five years and what's next?