India and Australia had elevated their ties to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in 2020

Australia's Chief of Defence Force General Angus Campbell called on India's Army Chief General MM Naravane on Wednesday and discussed ways to strengthen the defence cooperation between the two countries.

The visit by the Australian Chief of Defence Force comes a little over a
month after Australian Army Chief Lieutenant General Richard Maxwell Burr visited India.

He had called on General Naravane in New Delhi on March 9 and discussed ways to further enhance the bilateral defence cooperation between the two sides.

The two had also exchanged views on the current global situation and the situation in Indo-Pacific.

Recent years have seen a growing convergence between India and Australia when it comes to addressing issues of defence and security.

India and Australia had elevated their ties to a comprehensive strategic partnership in June 2020.

At the first 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue held in September last year, the two sides had decided to expand military engagements across services, facilitate greater defence information sharing and to work closely for mutual logistic support.

The Australian Navy had also participated in the last two editions of the Malabar Exercise hosted by the Indian Navy in 2020 and 2021.

On February 11 this year, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had said that defence and security were key pillars of the India-Australia partnership.

During a visit to Melbourne, Australia to attend the Quad Foreign Ministers Meeting, he had also interacted with Australian Defence Minister Peter Dutton.