NEW DELHI (PTI): Indian Army Chief Gen MM Naravane on Wednesday held a telephonic conversation with his Australian counterpart Lt Gen Rick Burr with a focus on bilateral defence cooperation.

The defence and strategic ties between the two countries have been on an upswing in the last couple of years.

"General MM Naravane #COAS had telephonic interaction with Lieutenant General Rick Burr, Chief of Army, #AustralianArmy and discussed issues of bilateral defence cooperation," the Army tweeted.

It is learnt that Gen Naravane and Lt Gen Burr deliberated on ways to expand cooperation between the two armies.

In June 2020, India and Australia elevated their ties to a comprehensive strategic partnership and signed a landmark deal for reciprocal access to military bases for logistics support.

The Mutual Logistics Support Agreement (MLSA) allows militaries of the two countries to use each other's bases for repair and replenishment of supplies, besides facilitating scaling up of overall defence cooperation.

The Australian Navy was part of the Malabar naval exercise hosted by India in November 2020 as well as last year.

The navies of the US and Japan were also part of it. Australia was part of the Malabar exercise this year as well.