Prime Highlights
- India and Australia launched PACTS to deepen cooperation on cyber security, critical technologies and supply chains.
- The two nations also signed an MoU for the trilateral ACITI partnership with Canada.
Key Facts
- PACTS covers five pillars, including supply chains, cybersecurity and defence research.
- Australia will set up a space tracking terminal to support India’s Gaganyaan mission.
Background
India and Australia have signed a new pact to strengthen cooperation on cyber security, critical technologies and supply chains, as both nations look to reduce reliance on any single country for emerging sectors.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced the Australia-India Partnership on Cyber, Critical Technologies, and Supply Chains (PACTS) during a joint statement in Melbourne. Modi said cooperation on critical minerals, strategic security and the clean energy transition had driven the decision to establish the partnership.
The agreement was unveiled following the third India-Australia Annual Summit, held during Modi’s two-day visit to the country. It rests on five pillars: supply chain resilience, critical technology, cybersecurity, digital resilience and defence research collaboration.
Under the supply chain pillar, both nations aim to build a bilateral framework for trusted vendors, with particular focus on semiconductors and critical minerals. On critical technology, India and Australia plan closer ties in space and artificial intelligence. Albanese confirmed a temporary space tracking terminal would be set up on the Cocos Keeling Islands to support India’s Gaganyaan human spaceflight mission.
The two leaders also signed a memorandum of understanding for the Australia-Canada-India Technology and Innovation Partnership (ACITI), first proposed last year in talks involving Modi, Albanese and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney.
