Australia said Tuesday it wants to take relations with India to “the next level” as it hosts Prime Minister Narendra Modi on a trade-focused visit with little attention to his government’s treatment of minorities. With the lure of growing trade riches and a powerful partner to parry China’s expanding military, diplomatic and economic influence in the Pacific region, Australia’s government is layering on the charm.

Modi will address a rally of 18,000 supporters in Sydney’s Qudos Bank Arena in the evening — and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will make an appearance in support of the Hindu nationalist leader. Australia and India have a great “strategic alignment”, Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles said. “It really does afford the opportunity to take the relationship to the next level,” he told the national broadcaster ABC, echoing Modi’s own words before his arrival Monday on his first Australian visit since 2014.

Asked whether Australia would raise India’s treatment of Muslims and other minorities, Marles declined to go into detail about a planned Modi-Albanese summit in Sydney on Wednesday. “Ultimately, we are both democracies and that very much underpins the way in which we see the world,” Marles said, pointing to the two nations’ growing trade and tightening defence relationships. India is a “growing massive economy, there are great opportunities for us,” he said.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan-INP