Australia will announce an investment of Rs 1,500 crore in multiple sectors in India at the India-Australia bilateral virtual summit to be held on March 21.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Australian counterpart Scott Morrison will hold the second India-Australia Virtual Summit to lay the way forward on new initiatives and enhance cooperation in various sectors between the two countries.

This is the largest-ever investment made by the Australian government in India.

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The Summit follows the historic first Virtual Summit in June 2020 when the relationship was elevated to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.

According to reports, India and Australia will conclude an early harvest agreement by the end of this month. It aims at liberalizing tariffs on the trade of certain goods between two countries or trading blocs before a comprehensive agreement.

India and Australia will also sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in the field of critical minerals, which will help and increase access of India to acquire metallic coal and lithium from Australia.

Australia has one of the biggest reserves of lithium and is also a provider of the cleanest metallic coal.

The two countries will also be building a centre to promote partnership, which will be located in Canberra in Australia.

The Leaders are expected to commit to closer cooperation in trade, critical minerals, migration and mobility, and education among others.

In an official statement, Scott Morrison said, "Australia and India's strong bilateral relationship is based on mutual understanding and trust, a commitment to democracy, and a shared vision of an open, inclusive, resilient and prosperous Indo-Pacific."

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