High Commissioner's remarks at Aero India
(Check against delivery) Thursday, 4 February 2021
Firstly I want to express Australia’s appreciation to Raksha Mantri, the Honourable Shri Rajnath Singh, for bringing us all together today.
As a first time Aero India visitor I also express my thanks for the opportunities, hospitality and the specacular air display you provided to all of us yesterday.
Our Defence Minister, Senator the Hon Linda Reynolds, conveys her regret at being unable to join us today due to Parliament’s sittings..
The Minister is very invested in our relationship with India, and with our Indian Ocean partners – including through the defence industry links represented here at Aero India.
Minister Reynolds very much looks forward to the upcoming Raisina Dialogue and hopes to meet you there in person.
I would like to congratulate the organisers of this Conclave, and indeed of Aero India, for putting on such a successful event. As already noted is is a significant achievement given the constraints we all face.
It Is as well that they were able to do so, because it’s more important than ever that we take opportunities to meet and share perspectives with each other.
We have reached a point now in the COVID-19 pandemic where we can see light at the end of the tunnel.
India’s vaccine production has again highlighted its manufacturing prowess & excellence.
That vaccines are now being rolled out, including in India, is the result of an astonishing sprint by our scientific communities, collaborating across borders to address a common challenge.
ThIs achievement is worth celebrating, even as we remember those we lost as a result of this determined virus.
It is also a reminder for those who work in defence of our nations that our work is only beginning.
Well before the pandemic emerged, our region was becoming the world’s strategic centre of gravity.
As has been said, its where many of the world’s economic opportunities lIe and is projected to account for two thirds of the world’s future economic growth.
At the same time, it Is home to six of the world’s ten biggest military spenders.
Great power tensions have been on the rise even during the pandemic and the use of grey zone strategies and coercive tactics has been growing.
It’s clear that COVID-19 has cost lives, exacerbated instability, and threatens to undermine hard won growth and development gains in the Indo Pacific region.
COVID has accelerated the very trends we seek to reverse.
Australia’s Prime Minister Morrison has remarked the post pandemic world will potentially be poorer, more dangerous and more disorderly.
All this means we face significant hurdles at a time when our resources and our attention are spread across multiple domains.
That makes coordination toward common goals more important than ever.
Australia calls the Indo-Pacific home — and shares a responsibility with many of you — to safeguard the ocean we share: the Indian Ocean.
We want to cooperate with India as a natural leader in the region, and cooperate with all of you, to ensure that our neighbourhood is peaceful.
That it operates by rules and norms that give us all the opportunity to prosper; allows access to open markets, and provides resilience against the economic and security challenges we all face.
Prime Minister Modi has called this cooperation a ‘sacred duty,’ remarking that our countries can be ‘factors for stability for our region and world.’
Australia couldn’t agree more.
That’s why we value India’s leadership in shaping the Indian Ocean and Indo-Pacific strategic environment more broadly.
India’s decision to offer vaccines to regional partners is a critical example of this leadership.
As does its decision to hold Aero India despite the ongoing global challenges posed by COVID-19. This event is a fantastic opportunity to showcase India’s domestic defence industry and its capabilities in defence of its nation.
As Australia expands our own defence cooperation with India, we see clearly that it’s people-to-people links – and business-to-business collaboration – that add depth and ballast to the strategic relationship.
But we also understand just how Important forums like Aero India are for our industry representatives to identify the areas in which they can maximise their relative strengths to the benefit of all of us in the region.
It’s that cooperation that will help us to achieve Security and Growth for All in the Region.
Thank you again, and I look forward to hearing from you all during the course of the session.