Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has credited Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi with a historic expansion of energy access in India, saying more people have been connected to energy under his leadership than has occurred in any decade, country or region in human history.
Albanese made the remarks during a conversation with former Prime Minister and Asia Society President Kevin Rudd in New York, where the two discussed Australia’s relationships across the Indo-Pacific. Responding to Rudd’s observation that the Australia-India relationship appeared to be “going places”, Albanese said India would become the world’s third-largest economy and already had the world’s largest population.
“To give Prime Minister Modi credit, more people have been connected with access to energy in India under his reign than has occurred in any decade, in any country or any region in human history,” Albanese said. He added that Australia had a strong relationship with India and that “a lot more can be done” in the economic partnership between the two countries.
Albanese said he had travelled to India twice as prime minister, while Modi had also visited Australia twice. Reflecting on Modi’s public appearances in Australia, he recalled a stadium event in Melbourne where Modi “filled a stadium” and said the excitement among the crowd was extraordinary. Albanese also recalled that Modi had asked the audience to cheer for him, resulting in what he described as about 40,000 Australians chanting his name.
The Australian prime minister also announced that he would travel to India in December on his way to the G20 in Florida. He said he would take a group of Australian businesses to Mumbai for a “G’day Namaste” event, modelled on the G’day LA event, before travelling to Chennai for a cricket match involving a Victorian team and a Western Australian team. Albanese said the visit was one way of building on the ties between the two countries, which he said shared Commonwealth links, language and universities.
Asked about Indonesia, Albanese described the relationship as particularly important and highlighted his personal engagement with President Prabowo Subianto. He said Indonesia would become a top-five economy in the foreseeable future and stressed the importance of personal relationships in diplomacy. Albanese noted that Indonesia was his first bilateral visit after becoming prime minister in 2022 and again after being re-elected in May 2025. He said Australia had also upgraded its security relationship with Indonesia, including through a treaty and increased defence cooperation.
On China, Albanese said the relationship remained strong, describing China as Australia’s most important economic trading partner, with about 28 per cent of Australian exports going to the country. He said Australia was diversifying its trading relationships but that China remained important. “We’ll cooperate where we can, we’ll disagree where we must, but we’ll engage in our national interests,” Albanese said, adding that Australia and China had different political systems and values but needed to maintain direct and respectful dialogue.
The conversation also covered artificial intelligence, climate change and Australia’s relationships with Pacific Island nations. Albanese discussed the opportunities and risks of AI, the impact of climate change on Pacific nations, and Australia’s efforts to strengthen its relationships across the region.
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