After rockstar reception in Australia, PM Narendra Modi heads for Fiji

Melbourne: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday left for Fiji after concluding his 5-day visit to Australia during which he attended the G-20 Summit and held talks with his Australian counterpart Tony Abbott.

Modi left for Fiji's capital Suva on a special Indian Air Force plane. He will hold talks with his Fijian counterpart Frank Bainimarama tomorrow.

Modi is the first Indian premier to visit the Pacific country after Indira Gandhi who had come here in 1981.

Out of the 849,000 population in Fiji, 37 per cent people are of Indian origin. Many Indians arrived in Fiji as indentured labour in the 19th century.

Read: Australia will not be at periphery of India's vision, but at centre of its thought: PM Modi

During his talks with Abbott, India and Australia agreed on a landmark framework for security cooperation across the spectrum in defence, cyber and maritime security and combating terrorism, including the threats posed by foreign fighters joining extremists groups.

The two countries also decided to conclude a long-pending Free Trade pact by the end of next year and an "early closure" of the civilian nuclear deal that will facilitate uranium imports to India.

Read: India, Australia vow closer trade ties and security cooperation

In a joint statement issued at the end of Modi's visit, the two countries committed themselves to working together to combat terrorism and transnational crimes.

He also addressed the Australian Parliament. Yesterday, the Prime Minister was accorded a warm welcome by Indian community in the country.

Modi also assured a visa on arrival facility for Australian tourists and announced a two-month deadline for the long-pending merger of OCI and PIO status to woo the Indian diaspora from whom he sought support for his ambitious Clean India campaign.

Prior to arriving in Australia, he attended the ASEAN-India summit and the East Asia Summit in Myanmar.