Finance
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Indonesia, Australia, and New Zealand next week, turning his focus to the eastern time zones of the Indian Ocean and India’s Act East initiatives, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) announced on Friday.
PM Modi will travel to Indonesia on July 6 for the first phase of his visit, where he will attend multiple events in Jakarta. He will also visit the historic city of Yogyakarta and the Prambanan Temple complex, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
MEA Secretary (East) Rudrendra Tandon highlighted PM Modi’s successful visit to Seychelles, stating that the attention has shifted from the western Indian Ocean Region (IOR) to the eastern time zones and India’s Act East initiatives.
According to Tandon, the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, which was established when Prime Minister Modi visited Indonesia in 2018, has become a key component of India’s ‘Act East’ policy and ‘MAHASAGAR’ vision in recent years.
Indonesia has traditionally played an essential role in the security and stability of the Malacca Strait, and it remains a critical maritime zone for India because it serves as one of the most significant marine lines of communication for India, Indian Ocean states, and the world economy.
Indonesia is also a crucial member of the ASEAN grouping, having played a significant role in building the rules-based order in this region.
“The leaders will review the relations and try and move forward all aspects of the relationship, particularly in maritime cooperation and in defence, in enhancing the trade and economic relations and deepening the age-old people-to-people ties with the Indonesia and other countries in the region,” the MEA Secretary detailed.
On the second leg of his visit, PM Modi will travel to Australia on July 10. In Melbourne, the PM will participate in the third India-Australia annual summit.
“This is the apex-level institutional mechanism that was put in place under the comprehensive strategic partnership agreement of 2020. This is fed by several ministerial dialogue mechanisms, but in particular defence ministers’ mechanisms, foreign ministers’ mechanisms and the trade ministers’ mechanism,” highlighted Secretary Tandon.
The discussions will also focus on new sectors of India-Australia bilateral ties, specifically vital minerals, cyber security, supply chain resilience, and emerging technologies.
PM Modi will then go to New Zealand on July 11 for the third phase of his tour, where he will meet with his counterpart, Christopher Luxon.
Luxon traveled to India in 2025 and served as the Guest of Honour and Keynote Speaker at the Raisina Dialogue 2025.
“There has been a kind of inflexion in India-New Zealand relations which has been gradually developed at a fairly rapid pace, which culminated in the signing of the India-New Zealand FTA in a short period of time,” noted Secretary Tandon.
The visit to New Zealand is also significant from a historical perspective as it will be the first visit to the country by an Indian Prime Minister in 40 years.
Source: IANS
