Leaders of Australia, the United States and Japan had their first ever summit on security in Sydney Saturday, focusing on India, but would not expand the strategic dialogue to include the sub-continent country.
Australian Prime Minister John Howard, U.S. President George W. Bush and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe held the inaugural leadership-level trilateral strategic dialogue between the three allies, ahead of the beginning of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders meeting.
Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer, who joined the leaders at the meeting over the breakfast, told reporters after the meeting that the three nations mainly talked about ways to boost ties with India.
"There was a lot of discussion about India, a lot of optimism about India, the importance of strengthening our relations with India," Downer said.
"It was an opportunity to talk about a range of different issues but certainly to focus on India and the importance of that country to us in the Asia-Pacific region and broader geopolitics of the Asia-Pacific region," he added.
However, Downer said the three nations are looking more in a " general sense" at progressing relationship with India, and would not expand the strategic dialogue to include the sub-continent nation anytime soon.
Meanwhile, Downer said there is not a census in APEC economies on India's bid of joining the forum.
Other senior ministers, including U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab, also joined the leaders at the meeting, during which the leaders also discussed other issues related to APEC meetings.
Source: Xinhua
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