EAM Jaishankar meets Australian and UK Prime Ministers at CHOGM 2026, discusses bilateral cooperation

St. John's [Antigua & Barbuda]: External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar has held separate meetings with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and United Kingdom Prime Minister Andy Burnham on the sidelines of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) 2026 in St. John's, Antigua and Barbuda, on November 4. The engagements focused on strengthening India's bilateral partnerships and expanding economic cooperation.

Following his meeting with Albanese, Jaishankar described the interaction as a positive engagement in a post on X. The meeting came amid continued efforts by New Delhi and Canberra to deepen their Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, covering defence, security, trade, technology and cooperation across the Indo-Pacific.

In his meeting with UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham, Jaishankar discussed strengthening the India-UK economic partnership in the context of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), along with the evolving global situation. He also conveyed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's warm wishes to the British leader.

The India-UK CETA is expected to provide fresh opportunities for trade, investment and business cooperation between the two countries. Both sides are seeking to build on their broader Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, which includes defence, security, clean energy, technology, innovation and education.

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Alongside the bilateral engagements, Jaishankar has called on Commonwealth partners to diversify economic partnerships, build shorter and more reliable supply chains, strengthen connectivity corridors and improve local distribution networks. He has also highlighted India's Digital Public Infrastructure experience and cooperation in climate action and disaster resilience.

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The meetings underlined India's effort to use the Commonwealth platform to advance bilateral partnerships while strengthening economic and strategic cooperation with key Indo-Pacific and European partners.

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