India, Australia witnessed 'enormous deepening and diversification' of cooperation, says Jaishankar

New Delhi, Jun 4 (PTI) External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Wednesday said India and Australia have witnessed an "enormous deepening and diversification" of bilateral cooperation in the last five years, and reaffirmed commitment to look at areas such as critical minerals, cyber, technology, and space as further domains of collaboration.

Addressing an event at the Australian High Commission here to mark the fifth anniversary of India-Australia Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, he also said the reason behind this "dosti" has actually been the "strong leadership that we have seen from both countries".

Australian Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Richard Marles, who is on a visit to India, was also present on the occasion.

Jaishankar said "here we are -- not just with a transformed relationship", but actually marking five years of the India-Australia Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.

"I think these have been five great years in our ties. Many more to come," he said.

Earlier in the day, the Australian leader said Canberra's relationship with New Delhi is of the "highest priority" and that it is profoundly significant to Australia's national interest.

Jaishankar said that in the last five years, "we have seen an enormous deepening and diversification of our cooperation".

"So, I am here today to reaffirm, in the presence of the Deputy Prime Minister, a strong commitment to take this relationship to still greater heights, to look at areas like critical minerals, cyber, technology, space, sports as further domains of collaboration, and to work on mechanisms -- most of all the Quad, but in the East Asia Summit platforms, the Indian Ocean Rim Association, the United Nations, even the trilateral grouping that we have with France," he said.

India and Australia on Wednesday resolved to further boost their strategic ties with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh hailing Canberra's unequivocal support to New Delhi's resolute response to the barbaric Pahalgam terror attack.

Singh held wide-ranging talks with his visiting Australian counterpart focusing on various aspects of bilateral defence cooperation as well as New Delhi's "extreme challenges" along its border with Pakistan.

"...Today we saw one example of that as the Deputy Prime Minister reiterated the strong sense of solidarity and support that we got when the Pahalgam terrorist attack happened, and I recall that Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, despite being in the middle of a very intense election campaign, actually reached out and called Prime Minister Modi to express those sentiments," Jaishankar said in his address. PTI KND KVK KVK