Prime Minister Modi’s visits to Australia and New Zealand follow a successful visit by Japan’s Prime Minister, Sanae Takaichi, to India from 1 July to 3 July, and PM Modi’s visit to Indonesia from 6 July to 8 July. Sustained political commitment and effective implementation are required to translate these partnerships into enduring pillars of India’s Indo-Pacific vision.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visits to Australia and New Zealand from 8 July to 11 July 2026 mark a significant milestone in India’s engagement with the Indo-Pacific. They represent an effort to consolidate India’s strategic presence in the Southern Indo-Pacific, a region that is central to global geopolitics, maritime security and supply-chain resilience. India’s Indo-Pacific vision has evolved towards a more expansive maritime strategy that stretches from the eastern coast of Africa to the Pacific Islands. Efforts like the Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative (IPOI) launched by India in 2019 to ensure a secure and sustainable maritime domain, engagement with ASEAN, Quad and outreach to the island nations demonstrate India’s ambition to become a leading stakeholder in shaping the regional order.

India’s foreign policy, with changing geopolitical realities, has adopted a broader conception of its strategic environment. India’s Indo-Pacific vision extends beyond the eastern Indian Ocean to include Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Island countries. It is widely acknowledged that developments across interconnected maritime spaces have direct implications for India’s maritime security, economic prosperity and overall strategic interests. More than 90 per cent of India’s trade and its energy imports are transported through these maritime routes, including the Indian Ocean and the Indo-Pacific waters.[1]

The timing of PM Modi’s visits to Australia and New Zealand is also significant, as they follow a successful visit by Japan’s Prime Minister, Sanae Takaichi, to India from 1 July to 3 July and PM Modi’s visit to Indonesia from 6 July to 8 July. The Indo-Pacific region continues to witness intensified great-power competition, contested maritime spaces and supply-chain disruptions. Countries across the region are also seeking to diversify their strategic and economic partnerships. For India, Australia and New Zealand are seen as vital partners within this strategic landscape. Australia has become a key pillar of India’s defence, security and critical minerals partnership, and New Zealand offers opportunities in trade, education and for furthering India’s engagement with Pacific Island countries.

Australia: India’s Strategic Partner

Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Australia from 8 July to 9 July for the Third India–Australia Annual Summit.[2] India–Australia ties have undergone a remarkable transformation from a partnership driven by trade and educational exchanges to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership focusing on defence, maritime security, critical minerals and technology. This summit further reiterated these areas of cooperation, reflecting the convergence of strategic interests between two Indo-Pacific democracies.

Strengthening Defence and Security Cooperation

Defence cooperation emerged as one of the key outcomes and a defining pillar of India–Australia ties. The annual summit produced a new Joint Declaration on Defence and Security Cooperation, which follows the 2009 Joint Declaration on Security Cooperation.[3] Both countries view the Indo-Pacific as an interconnected strategic theatre where maintaining maritime stability requires cooperation among like-minded countries. The new declaration emphasises operational integration, strengthening interoperability through joint exercises and long-term defence collaboration.

Maritime security is central to their cooperation since both countries depend on secure Sea Lines of Communication (SLOC). India and Australia have committed to further strengthening the Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA) through coordinated surveillance and information sharing across the Indo-Pacific region. For Australia, India is a resident power in the Indian Ocean capable of contributing to regional stability. The summit also focused on the potential for cooperation in anti-submarine warfare and coordinated patrols.

Improved MDA and intelligence-sharing would also enable both navies to monitor developments across........

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