Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Australia on Monday, May 22nd, for the final stage of his six-day tour after attending the Group of Seven (G7) summit in Hiroshima and hosting the summit of the Forum for India–Pacific Islands Cooperation (FIPIC III Summit) in Papua New Guinea.
The Indian diaspora in Australia greeted Modi upon his arrival. He is visiting Sydney for two days from May 22nd to May 24th.
On Tuesday, May 23rd, the prime minister attended a public rally in Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney Olympic Park, which over 20,000 Indian diaspora members reportedly attended. Modi arrived at the event with his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese and spoke in length about his government’s achievements.
On Wednesday, May 24th, Modi and Albanese are scheduled to hold bilateral talks. Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra announced during a press conference that Albanese will also organise a dinner for Modi.
Modi will also meet with Australian Governor General David Hurley on this occasion. He will also engage in conversation with Australian CEOs and business leaders.
The prime minister was previously scheduled to attend the QUAD summit in Australia as well, but the event was cancelled last week due to the US debt ceiling crisis. The leaders of the QUAD had conducted their meeting in Hiroshima instead.
As per an official statement released by the PMO, Modi’s interactions with Albanese will be “an opportunity to take stock of our bilateral ties and follow up on our first India-Australia Annual Summit held in New Delhi in March this year”.
Ahead of Modi’s arrival, Albanese said, “I am honoured to host Prime Minister Modi for an official visit to Australia, after receiving an extremely warm welcome in India earlier this year.”
On May 19th, Modi marked the start of a six-day trip to three nations—Japan, Papua New Guinea and Australia—to attend multilateral summits, including the G7 summit.
