Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to participate in the summit…reports Asian Lite News
Australia’s High Commissioner to India Barry O’Farrell on Monday said that Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is looking forward to the forthcoming Quad Summit to be held in Sydney on May 23-24.
“Prime Minister Albanese is looking forward to the Quad Summit on 23-24 May and so am I, because it’s another great opportunity to showcase Sydney to the world. This is an interesting year for all four Quad partners. India is hosting G20, Japan to host the G7, Australia is hosting the Quad, and the US is hosting APEC,” he said.
“So, Quad partners are cooperating multilaterally to shape a better world for us all,” he added.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to participate in the summit.
O’Farrell further said that the Quad summit to be held in Sydney will ensure an agenda for a safe and secure Indo-Pacific region.
“We share a positive agenda for a secure, safe and sovereign Indo-Pacific that abides by the rules,” he added.
The Quad meeting at the Sydney Opera House will be Australia’s first opportunity of hosting the Quad Leaders’ Summit.
Apart from Modi and Albanese, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and US President Joe Biden will also participate in the summit.
The summit will discuss the global economic environment, which is under pressure due to inflationary pressures, Albanese had said last month.
Vandalism of Hindu temples
O’Farrell said that PM Albanese ensured that the security forces take action when the vandalism of Hindu temples occurred and also track those responsible and prosecute them.
In an interview with ANI, Farrell said, “Well, Prime Minister Albanese assured Prime Minister Modi when he visited India in March that in Australia, we believe people have a right to practice their religions without interference. And Prime Minister Albanese committed to ensuring that our security forces, including our police, state police forces, take every possible action when the vandalism occurred to track down those responsible and to prosecute them.” “And I’m confident that that will happen. The point I make on perhaps the broader issue is that, as my Foreign Minister said when she was here in March unofficial referendum has no legal standing in Australia and Australia continues to respect and stand by India’s sovereignty and its sovereign borders,” he added.
In the past few months, the attacks on the Hindu temple have increased. In March, Shree Laxmi Narayan Temple in Brisbane was attacked. Earlier, in January, Shri Shiva Vishnu Temple in Australia’s Carrum Downs was also vandalised with anti-Hindu graffiti.
A week before the above incident, On January 12, the BAPS Swaminarayan Mandir in Australia’s Mill Park was smeared with anti-India and anti-Hindu graffiti. (with inputs from IANS and ANI’s Ayushi Agarwal)