Melbourne: Seeking to enhance India`s military ties with Australia, Defence Minister AK Antony arrived in Perth on Tuesday on a historic visit to co-chair a bilateral security dialogue amid "profound" strategic changes in the Asia-Pacific region.
He is scheduled to attend the Australia-India Defence Ministers` dialogue with his counterpart Stephen Smith, to be held in the Australian capital Canberra tomorrow.
Antony, who is the first ever Indian Defence Minister to visit Australia, landed in the western city of Perth and met Smith and was also greeted at a reception attended by prominent members of Western Australian and Indian academic, business and community organisations.
His visit comes days after Australian government released a defence white paper recently which noted that, "India is emerging as an important strategic, diplomatic and economic actor, `looking east,` and becoming more engaged in regional frameworks."
"The white paper outlines the profound strategic changes that are occurring as economic, strategic and military weight shifts to our part of the world, the Indo-Pacific region," Smith said in an official statement.
The two sides share an interest in helping to address these strategic changes, including through defence collaboration, the statement said.
Antony`s visit has been described as historic and indicative of the increasing importance and depth of the Australia-India bilateral relationship, including defence and military cooperation.
"Our bilateral defence-to-defence and military-to-military cooperation occurs across a range of activities, including ship visits and professional exchanges," Smith said.
Smith noted that in 2009, the Prime Ministers of the two countries had agreed to upgrade the bilateral relationship to a strategic partnership and issued a Joint Declaration on Security Cooperation.
"The Joint Declaration provides the framework for our bilateral efforts to effect closer and more regular collaboration on shared security interests," Smith said.
"I look forward to hosting Minister Antony in Perth, Australia`s `Indian Ocean capital`. The city is home to several significant Australian Defence Force establishments, including Australia`s Indian Ocean Naval Base, HMAS Stirling," Smith said.
The two ministers were to fly together to Canberra later today.
"Antony and I will travel together to Canberra. On Wednesday in Canberra, we will conduct the Australia-India Defence Ministers` Dialogue. It will be the second time that Minister Antony and I have conducted the dialogue," he said.
Antony arrived from Singapore as part of a three-nation official tour that also includes Thailand, and is aimed at bolstering India`s defence ties with countries in the Asia Pacific region.
PTI
