Australian PM India visit: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese is on a two-day visit to Gujarat, during which they watched the first day of the fourth Test match between the two countries at the Narendra Modi stadium in Ahmedabad on Thursday (March 9).
The Australian Prime Minister arrived in Ahmedabad, on the evening of Wednesday (March 8) where Albanese, along with PM Modi will watch the final Test match of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy today.
India-Australia Annual Summit:
According to an official release, the first in-person India-Australia Annual Summit will take place during Albanese's visit. At the Annual Summit, leaders take stock of progress made on various initiatives under the India-Australia Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. The summit lays the way forward on new initiatives and enhanced cooperation in a diverse range of sectors between India and Australia.
The Summit was first held virtually on June 4, 2020, the release said. The visit comes after a series of high-level engagements and an exchange of ministerial visits between the two sides in 2022 and in 2023. The last visit by an Australian PM (Malcolm Turnbull) to India was in 2017.
Australian PM visit:
Albanese arrived at Ahmedabad airport in the evening on Wednesday and headed straight towards the Sabarmati Ashram in the city to pay his tributes to Mahatma Gandhi, who lived at the Ashram during India's freedom struggle. Albanese also attended a cultural event at Raj Bhavan in Gandhinagar organised by the Gujarat government on the occasion of the Holi festival.
Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, Governor Acharya Devvrat and other dignitaries will also join the Australian PM at Raj Bhavan. PM Albanese attended an event of an Australian University at a hotel on Wednesday.
India-Australia 4t test match:
Both prime ministers will arrive at the Narendra Modi Stadium at Motera in Ahmedabad today to watch the first-day play of the fourth Test between Australia and India. They would leave after watching the match for a few hours. Ahmedabad Police have deployed more than 3,000 personnel at the stadium as well as surrounding areas in the city anticipating a huge rush of spectators to watch the cricket match, said Additional Commissioner of Police, sector 1, Neeraj Badgujar.
"Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the prime minister of Australia will watch the Test match at the Narendra Modi Stadium on March 9. Police have already completed all the security-related arrangements. We have deployed nearly 200 police officers and 3,000 policemen to secure the stadium and other spots," Badgujar told media.
According to Joint Commissioner of Police NN Chaudhary, spectators will arrive at the stadium in nearly 1,500 buses and special parking arrangements have been made to accommodate these buses and other vehicles.
(With agencies inputs)
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