NEW DELHI: India and Australia are great friends and both sides are making the ties stronger every day, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Friday,  ahead of talks with his Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Australian PM also said that India and Australia are competing on the cricket field to be the world's best team but together the two countries are building a better world. He  made the comments after he was accorded a ceremonial welcome at the Rashtrapati Bhavan this morning. He arrived in Delhi on Thursday evening after completing his engagements in Ahmedabad and Mumbai.

The Australian Prime Minister said Canberra wants to cooperate with India to build a stronger relationship in areas of culture, economic relations as well as security. On Thursday morning, Narendra Modi and  Albanese watched the fourth Test match between India and Australia in Ahmedabad. "Australia and India are great friends We are partners and we are building that partnership even stronger each and every day,"  Albanese said. "We are competing on the cricket field to be world's best but together we are building a better world," he said. He also visited Rajghat and paid tribute to Mahatma Gandhi.

PM Modi and Albanese are anticipated to concentrate their discussions on strengthening overall bilateral cooperation in the areas of trade and investment, defence, and essential minerals.The two presidents would also likely discuss the Indo-Pacific situation in light of the mounting worries over China's escalating military assertiveness in the area.

 the Australian stated that a stronger India-Australia cooperation is important for regional stability and that it also means greater commerce and investment days before his travel to India. Since taking office as prime minister in May of last year, this is  Albanese's first trip to India.

The last visit to India by an Australian Prime Minister was in 2017. 

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