Context
- Recently India and Australia have signed a historic agreement, called ‘Mutual Logistics Support Agreement (MLSA)’, to allow access to military bases for logistics support.
- This was agreed upon at the first-ever virtual bilateral summit between India and Australia
- India is committed to strengthening its relations with Australia, not only important for the two nations but also for the Indo-Pacific region and the whole world.
About Mutual Logistics Support Agreement
- The Mutual Logistics Support Agreement (MLSA) will allow militaries of the two countries to use each other’s bases for repair and replenishment of supplies besides facilitating scaling up of overall defense cooperation.
- India has already signed similar agreements with the US, France and Singapore.
- The agreement will be useful during joint military exercises, peacekeeping operations, Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief operations, scheduled deployments of military platforms, and any other exigent situations that may arise.