Indian PM Narendra Modi holds talks with Australia's Scott Morrison, who calls meeting 'outstanding, great'

 Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met his Australian counterpart Scott Morrison in the United States. 

The meeting comes at a time when a new defence alliance has been set up between Australia, the US and the UK.

This meeting between Morrison and Modi is the first India-Australia bilateral meeting between the two leaders since the coronavirus pandemic took over the world. This is also the Indian Prime Minister’s first bilateral meeting of this US trip.

India’s Minister of External Affairs S Jaishankar and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval are also present in the meeting.

After the meeting, Morrison told WION that his meeting with Narendra Modi was "outstanding, great".

It is an important meeting as it will play a huge role in reassuring the Indian government that the QUAD alliance will not suffer due to the new alliance between the US, Australia and UK.

WION’s sources in the Indian government have claimed that India was informed in advance by Australia about this new alliance.

Australia is an important partner for India and experts are hoping for a constructive dialogue between the two leaders, given the long friendly history between the two countries.

The two leaders discussed plans to deepen economic and people-to-people linkages between the two countries.

After his meeting with the Australian PM, Indian PM will be meeting the Vice President of the US Kamala-Harris. The two leaders will meet for the first time since Harris' appointment in January 2021.

Narendra Modi is also scheduled to meet the outgoing Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga a few hours after concluding his meeting with Harris.

Upon reaching the US, Modi met with leading American CEOs from five different key sectors.