LIVE | ‘This show is houseful’: At Melbourne community event, PM Modi hails India-Australia ties | World

Thanking his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese for the warm welcome he received during his visit to Australia, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday recounted how the bilateral relationship between the two countries has improved since he came to power and said New Delhi and Canberra’s ties are at an all-time high. 

Participating in a mega community event in Melbourne’s Marvel Stadium, the prime minister said the ties have improved between Australia and India because of the Indian diaspora. He said Melbourne has a lot of places now, which are referred as ‘mini India’ now. 

PM Modi recalled that since he took oath in 2014, he has visited Australia on three separate occasions, which demonstrates the great heights that the relationship between India and Australia has reached. He said the Indian diaspora are actively working for Australia’s development. 

“This show is houseful,” he said, “It is a blockbuster… Before this, I had met you all twice in Sydney. I was also waiting to meet the people of Melbourne. So this time I thought I would have a flat white coffee with the people of Melbourne.”

The prime minister also reiterated his goal to make India ‘viksit’ (developed) by 2047 and said the country aspires to become the world’s third largest economy at the quickest. He also recalled India’s successful achievement of reaching the moon’s south pole and said the country is now working to launch its own space station.

He also said India has become world’s second largest 5G market and is working on ‘Made in India’ 6G technology. Further, India has the world’s third largest metro network, he said, while adding that his government has launched ‘Vande Bharat’ and ‘Namo Bharat’ rail services.  

He also recalled India’s military success against Pakistan during ‘Operation Sindoor’ and said terror launch pads were decimated by Indian Armed Forces, which the entire world saw. He further reiterated that India aims to achieve more and the country wants to become completely ‘atmanibhar’ (self-reliant) in the defence sector.