Global political and economic transformation had spurred India and Australia to shed their relationship conditioned by the cold war and start a process of rethinking about their past. Both the countries have initiated serious steps to rediscover each other and look beyond cricket and the Commonwealth heritage. The real deepening of the ties between India and Australia took an effective form after India went in for economic reforms in the early nineteen nineties. A comprehensive programme of action, anew Horizons, launched in 1996, highlighted four areas of cooperation between the two countries: political and security cooperation; political and security cooperation; bilateral trade and investment; Indian ocean; and cultural exchange. Despite the Indian perception of Australia’s security options being overshadowed by the American global perspectives than by her own individual discretion both the countries have recently discerned a space to strengthen the bilateral relationship and earnest efforts to narrow the resultant chasm are beginning to take shape. This offers a promise for a very useful relationship in the days to come. Born out of an international seminar on Indo-Australian relations in February 2002, this book covers all aspects of these relations: political relations having a strong component of security concerns; regional strategies; bilateral economic cooperation; and the cultural interface. Some vital documents of relevance to both the countries add great value to this excellent study of Indo-Australian relations.
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