The Australian Government led by the newly elected Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has joined hands with India to go for a practical military cooperation. Speaking on the sidelines of the seventh Asia Security Summit organized at Singapore, the Australian Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon stated that Australia intends to engage India in ‘closer practical military cooperation, particularly in the Indian Ocean region.’

 

The Australian Defence Minister further underscored that the two countries already shared a very high degree of mutual trust and that this would act as ideal platform for the take off of this joint project. Minister Joel Fitzgibbon pointed out that the agreement had already identified ‘maritime security and counter-terrorism’ as areas for enhanced cooperation. He elucidated that India nurtured great expertise in countering terrorism and that Australia could learn from that.