Education, Research Cooperation Key To India-Australia Ties: Modi

"And, with the passing of legislation in the Australian Parliament with bipartisan support, Australia is now ready to export uranium to India."

Modi said that both India and Australia agreed on the need for a secure and rule based Indo-Pacific region.

"We are also aware that in this globalised world, challenges like terrorism and cyber security extend beyond the boundaries of our region," he said.

"Indeed, Prime Minister's (Turnbull's) understanding and insight into regional and global issues brings a new dimension to our cooperation on matters that concern us both."

Stating that maritime exercises and exchanges between the two countries have been productive, Modi said that "bilateral mechanisms on counter-terrorism and trans-national crimes are functioning well" and expressed pleasure at the signing of the MoU on cooperation in fighting international terrorism and organised crime.

He also called for working closely with with members of the East Asia Summit and the Indian Ocean rim countries to pursue common interests.

On his part, Turnbull appealed to universities and research institutes of both countries to focus on addressing critical problems.

He said Australia was helping India in its water management policy while sharing expertise in the area of renewable energy.

Congratulating Modi for leading the International Solar Alliance (ISA), Turnbull said that Australia would join the alliance soon.

Stating that trade in goods and services between the two sides stood at $20 billion, he said there was scope for increasing this.

"We are working working with India for a quality RCEP (Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership)," he said.

RCEP is a proposed free trade agreement between the 10 member-states of the Association of Southeast Asian nations (Asean) and the six countries with which Asean has free trade agreements -- Australia, China, India, Japan, South Korea and New Zealand.

The Australian Prime Minister arrived here on Sunday on a four-day state visit to India.

This is Turnbull's first bilateral visit to India since he assumed office in September 2015.

His predecessor Tony Abbott had visited India in September 2014 and this was followed by Prime Minister Modi's visit to Australia in November that year.

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