Melbourne, Aug 7 : Consul General of India in Melbourne Sushil Kumar met Australian National University's former professor Peter Friedlander on Thursday and gave him the reward money for his article in a quarterly magazine, 'Gagananchal Visheshank', which is published by the Indian Council for Cultural Research (ICCR).

During the meeting, Sushil Kumar praised Peter Friedlander for his efforts to promote Hindi language in Australia. Consulate General of India in Melbourne also shared Friedlander's article in a post on X.

"Consul General met Peter Friedlander, former Prof. of Australian National University and handed over him the reward money for his article in 'Gagananchal Visheshank' a quarterly magazine published by Indian Council for Cultural Research (ICCR). He commended him for his efforts to promote Hindi language in Australia. Prof. Friedlander presented a book 'The Songs of Daya Bai' translated in English to Consul General," Consulate General of India in Melbourne posted on X.

In his article, Friedlander discussed the growing use of Hindi language in Australia. According to him, Hindi education is now available in every state of Australia, such as through 'community schools' in New South Wales like IABBV and VSL in Victoria. He mentioned that Hindi programs are broadcast on SBS, on all three mediums like TV, radio and internet. He also stated that there are many community internet radio services, like Canberra city's Radio Manpasand.

The India-Australia bilateral relationship is underpinned by shared values of a pluralistic, Westminster-style democracies, Commonwealth traditions, expanding economic engagement and increasing high level interaction. According to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), in recent years, ties between India and Australia have charted a whole new trajectory of transformational growth.

Bilateral cooperation has witnessed exponential growth in existing frameworks of cooperation and further expanded across a wide spectrum of new areas opening up new possibilities, both at bilateral as well as global level. Australia and India upgraded bilateral relationship from 'Strategic Partnership' to Comprehensive Strategic Partnership (CSP) in 2020.

/IANS