Australia and India have built an enduring partnership in cyber and critical technologies underpinned by their Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, the 2020 Framework Arrangement on Cyber and Cyber Enabled Critical Technology Cooperation (2020 Framework), and two decades of collaborative research, operational coordination and policy engagement.
Supply chains, critical technology, and cyber security drive economic growth and sit at the heart of national security. They can also be used to shape values and global norms. With that in mind, Australia and India will build on their existing foundations and raise their bilateral ambition through a new arrangement: the Australia-India Partnership on Cyber, Critical Technologies and Supply Chains, or PACTS. This succeeds and replaces the 2020 Framework.
PACTS is meant to support shared interests in national and regional security, give partners greater digital choices, make critical supply chains more resilient, and strengthen global cyber resilience. Safety, security, resilience, inclusivity for all, and shared democratic values will be built into every stage of this work, showing both countries’ commitment to being responsible technology leaders. Streamlining these efforts under one strategic vision allows Australia and India to pursue targeted activities across five pillars of cooperation.
How the Pillars Work Together
Under each interrelated pillar, India and Australia will identify opportunities and specific projects to support collaboration between the private sector, universities, research institutions and government agencies. This underpins and extends government-to-government cooperation, increases two-way investment into new technologies, and supports the translation of intellectual property into products that deliver economic growth.
Pillar 1: Supply Chain Resilience and Diversification
Australia and India will work towards secure, resilient and trustworthy supply chains to support their growing technical industries. This includes promoting security and safety by design, protective regulatory frameworks, and deeper rules-based bilateral technology trade and supply chains.
To do this, the two countries will:
- Develop a bilateral mechanism for collaboration on trusted vendor frameworks.
- Promote India-Australia cooperation, including through the Quad Partnership for Cable Connectivity and Resilience, to support secure, trusted, reliable and resilient undersea cable connectivity across the Indo-Pacific. This includes strengthening cooperation to share best practices, enhance information sharing and coordination, and address risks to undersea cable infrastructure, including threats and sabotage.
- Develop collaboration between Australian and Indian research institutes focused on protecting semiconductor supply chains, and facilitate co-development and research to bolster their efforts.
- Collaborate on the development of secure critical minerals supply chains, including through coordinated investment, regulatory alignment, and recycling and recovery.
- Promote commercial collaboration and trade diversification between Australian and Indian businesses, and strengthen engagement between relevant peak bodies, including by aligning existing initiatives to this pillar.
Pillar 2: Critical Technology
Australia and India will work together to strengthen the security, resilience and integrity of priority critical technologies, and innovate in areas such as artificial intelligence (AI), space technologies, telecommunications, biotechnology and advanced materials. The goal is to protect essential digital and physical infrastructure, accelerate innovation and research, and shape interoperable, consensus-driven international standards that support long-term economic security and regional stability in the Indo-Pacific.
Planned activities include:
- Leveraging global efforts to advance international standards and benchmarks for trustworthy, safe and secure AI by developing consensus-driven, multistakeholder frameworks grounded in democratic values. This includes supporting initiatives between Indian and Australian academic institutions and private sectors that capture benefits for citizens, and that equip AI researchers, practitioners, policymakers and professionals with the knowledge and skills to drive harmonised principles and best practice in developing and deploying AI safely. It also includes sharing approaches on securing access to compute, large language models, AI, and related infrastructure.
- Refocusing and accelerating Australia-India research, innovation and investment partnerships to target priorities including advanced materials, telecommunications and biotechnology, including by readjusting established programmes within existing settings to fund research projects that deliver tangible benefits bilaterally and for the broader Indo-Pacific.
- Exploring collaboration on joint commercial and government-led space sector initiatives, drawing on the rapid growth of both countries’ space sectors and their maturing space partnership.
Pillar 3: Cybersecurity
Australia and India will work together to bolster the safety and security of the cyber and digital domain. This means countering cybercrime, deterring malicious cyber activity, exchanging knowledge and experience on cyber and technology security norms, and protecting critical national infrastructure.
The two countries will:
- Work to establish a consolidated and rationalised bilateral mechanism in cyber and ICT fields, streamlining capacity building initiatives and regional and multilateral cooperation opportunities, while ensuring policy coherence and avoiding duplication across multiple working channels.
- Strengthen cooperation in UN-mandated cyber-related processes and enhance dialogue on data governance architecture and international cooperation on cybersecurity in telecommunications.
- Increase opportunities for trade and investment between Australian and Indian businesses in cybersecurity and technology ventures.
- Facilitate practical joint workshops bringing together Australian and Indian government agencies and other stakeholders in cybersecurity.
- Create a cyber tech skill incubator hub for growth and exchange of critical skills.
Pillar 4: Digital Resilience
Australia and India will seek to deliver trusted, scalable technology solutions to support digitalising economies across the Indo-Pacific, working together to create solutions that address development challenges by identifying specific projects that strengthen regional capabilities.
This work involves:
- Supporting new partnership exchanges with countries in the Indo-Pacific on India’s Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) principles.
- Scaling and diffusing affordable DPI solutions across the Indo-Pacific, including in clean and renewable energy, resilient critical infrastructure, connectivity, digital transformation, health, social protection, skills development, education and research.
- Promoting Indian and Australian expertise on digital resilience by scaling robust DPI use cases across the region, and facilitating Indo-Pacific pilot projects focused on foundational digital solutions through capacity building initiatives, including joint projects to build locally adaptable digital ecosystems.
Pillar 5: Defence Research Collaboration
Australia and India will work together to leverage defence research partnerships, advancing a shared understanding of multi-domain defence challenges and capabilities. Building on past joint research, the two countries will design future projects in line with shared interests and increase exchanges between their defence science organisations under the Implementing Arrangement concerning cooperation in Defence Science and Technology, part of the Memorandum of Understanding on Defence Cooperation.
Key activities include:
- Strengthening dialogue on defence science and technology priorities through the Defence Ministers’ Dialogue, Defence Policy Talks, and the Joint Working Group on Defence Industry, Research, and Materiel.
- Building institutional connections between Australia’s Defence Science and Technology Group and India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation, and regularising working-level exchanges to accelerate research cooperation.
- Facilitating deeper ties between the two countries’ defence innovation and start-up ecosystems, including business-to-business engagement.
- Focusing collaboration on innovative maritime science and technology capabilities, including maritime surveillance and advanced materials, for defence applications.
Architecture and Governance: Who Oversees the Partnership
The Partnership will be chaired at a senior level by Australia’s Deputy Secretary of the International and Security Group, Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, and India’s Deputy National Security Advisor. The Chairs will set priority areas and identify opportunities for mutually beneficial cooperation across cyber and critical technologies.
An annual Senior Officials Meeting will bring together the officials responsible for coordinating under each pillar. They will report to the Chairs, review priorities, take stock of progress to date, assess new and emerging risks to the cyber and critical technology landscape, and work towards jointly identifying specific projects under each pillar of cooperation.
Key Takeaway: The Australia–India Partnership on Cyber, Critical Technologies and Supply Chains (PACTS) marks a significant upgrade in bilateral strategic cooperation by replacing the 2020 Framework on Cyber and Cyber Enabled Critical Technology Cooperation with a comprehensive framework covering five pillars: Supply Chain Resilience and Diversification, Critical Technology, Cybersecurity, Digital Resilience, and Defence Research Collaboration.
The key points to remember are the partnership’s focus on trusted supply chains, semiconductors, critical minerals, artificial intelligence (AI), space technologies, cybersecurity, Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI), defence science collaboration, and Indo-Pacific security, as well as its links with initiatives such as the Quad Partnership for Cable Connectivity and Resilience. Governed jointly by senior officials from both countries with an annual review mechanism, PACTS reflects the deepening India–Australia Comprehensive Strategic Partnership and their shared commitment to strengthening regional security, technological innovation, resilient supply chains and rules-based cooperation in the Indo-Pacific.
M.C.Q.
Question 1: The Australia–India Partnership on Cyber, Critical Technologies and Supply Chains (PACTS) replaced which of the following agreements?
- A. Australia–India Economic Cooperation Agreement (2022)
- B. 2020 Framework Arrangement on Cyber and Cyber Enabled Critical Technology Cooperation
- C. India–Australia Defence Cooperation Agreement (2014)
- D. Australia–India Digital Economy Framework
Question 2: Which of the following is NOT one of the five pillars of the Australia–India Partnership on Cyber, Critical Technologies and Supply Chains (PACTS)?
- A. Supply Chain Resilience and Diversification
- B. Cybersecurity
- C. Climate Change Adaptation
- D. Defence Research Collaboration
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