Australian envoy says ties with India at historic high

Australia's new High Commissioner to India, Philip Green, said bilateral relations are at an all-time high and he will seek to bolster defence cooperation or "interchangeability" between the two nations.

- Shashank Mattoo & Utpal Bhaskar

Green's personal ambition will be facilitating integration of Indian military's elements with Australia's armed forces, and allowing Indian armed forces personnel in Australia's joint headquarters. In an interview, he said Canberra is keen on an early completion of the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement. Green also shared his views on the challenges faced by India and Australia in dealing with China. Edited excerpts: Where do you see the India-Australia relationship heading? So, first thing to say is we are at a historically high point and the bilateral relationship has never seen as much prospect and forward movement as we've right now.

There are three underlying drivers that are driving this bilateral relationship. One, for the first time in our history, Australia and India have a very high level of strategic alignment. We're partners in the Indo Pacific. Two, economics. India is now the fifth biggest economy, and growing at 7% per annum. Any country will be interested in India. But Australia isn't any other country. We're a neighbour, a strategic partner, and perhaps most importantly, we have a highly complementary economy. The third strategic driver is the very large population of Indian origin in Australia. A million people is not a lot by Indian standards but it's nearly 4% of our population.

We are at a high point, but I want to achieve more.