India, Australia to elevate strategic partnership

News:India and Australia are likely to conclude the mutual logistics support agreement and a broader maritime cooperation agreement to elevate the strategic partnership.

Facts:

About the Logistics agreement:

• Logistics agreements are administrative arrangements facilitating access to military facilities for exchange of fuel and simplifying logistical support and increasing operational turnaround.
• Currently, defence cooperation between the two countries is based on (a)Memorandum on Defence Cooperation 2006 (b)Joint Declaration on Security Cooperation 2009 and (c)bilateral Framework for Security Cooperation 2014.

Maritime Cooperation agreement:

• India and Australia have already expanded cooperation in maritime domain awareness. 
• The maritime cooperation agreement with a border mandate is important for better maritime domain awareness.
• The Indian Navy and the Royal Australian Navy are also partners in the Indian Ocean Naval Symposium(IONS).

About Indian Ocean Naval Symposium(IONS):

• IONS is an international maritime security initiative launched in February 2008.
• It is a voluntary initiative that seeks to increase maritime cooperation among the navies of the littoral states of the Indian Ocean Region by providing an open and inclusive forum for discussion of regionally relevant maritime issues.
• There are 36 littoral in the Indian Ocean which have been geographically grouped into the four sub-regions.

About AUSINDEX:

• AUSINDEX is a biennial bilateral maritime exercise between Indian Navy and Royal Australian Navy (RAN). 
• The first edition of the exercise, AUSINDEX-15 took place in 2015 off the East Coast of India. 
• The exercise is aimed at strengthening professional interaction and enhance interoperability between the two navies. It seeks to strengthen maritime cooperation between India and Australia.