India and Australia have decided to deepen their bilateral defence partnership by taking a slew of fresh initiatives including setting up of a joint working group on defence research and material cooperation. They also decided to focus on maritime security ties in the Indian Ocean region. It was also decided that India will take part in the first ever air excercise with Australia. This is in addition to the first-ever bilateral naval excercise that is scheduled to be held later this month. The decisions came following the delegation-level talks between Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and visiting Australian counterpart Kevin Andrews yesterday.<br/><br/>A joint statement said that given Indian and Australian' interest in the Indian Ocean and its vital importance to regional and global trade, the ministers acknowledged the importance of freedom of maritime navigation and agreed that maritime security should remain a key component of the bilateral defence relationship.<br/><br/>The Ministers affirmed their desire to continue to broaden and deepen the bilateral defence relationship based on shared strategic interests. They also decided to implement the action plan outlined in the Framework for Security Cooperation agreed to by the Prime Ministers Narendra Modi and Tony Abbott on 18 November 2014, the statement said.<br/><br/>Earlier, Mr. Kevin Andrews met Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju discussed intelligence sharing, combating international terrorism, cyber security and better working relations for border and maritime security. They also touched upon the issues of stability in Asia Pacific region, security of sea lanes.