India, Australia set to hold '2+2' ministerial dialogue on November 20

New Delhi: India and Australia will have their second 2+2 ministerial dialogue on Monday involving the ministers of Defence and External Affairs, preceded by bilateral discussions on defence cooperation, official sources said here on Saturday.

Australian Deputy Prime Minister & Minister for Defence Richard Marles will visit India along with the Minister for Foreign Minister Penny Wong. The deputy prime minister will spend the Sunday at Ahmedabad, watching the India-Australia cricket World Cup final.

At the 2+2 summit, co-chaired by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, the two sides are expected to review a whole range of bilateral and regional issues. India has similar 2+2 arrangements with two other Quad partners – the USA and Japan.

India and Australia are pursuing a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership and the visit of Marles was expected to give further impetus to the collaboration as well as bilateral defence cooperation, officials said.

Jaishankar and Foreign Minister Wong will also hold the 14th Foreign Ministerial Framework Dialogue on November 21 to take stock of cooperation under the existing partnership and exchange views on regional and global issues of mutual interest.

The maiden 2+2 ministerial dialogue took place in New Delhi in September 2021.