Foreign Minister Stephen Smith has expressed the federal government's concerns over the recent spate of attacks on Indians in Australia during a meeting with his Indian counterpart.
Mr Smith met India's Foreign Minister Somanahalli M Krishna in London on Wednesday on the eve of a key international conference about the future of Afghanistan both were due to attend.
Mr Smith said he underlined the joint concern both countries had about the recent attacks against Indian nationals, including the fatal stabbing of Punjab-born graduate Nitin Garg in Melbourne on January 2.
News that makes sense
Your trusted source for staying up-to-date with the world around you. Get free daily news updates and analysis, straight to your inbox.
"
We resolved this was a difficult issue which we did not want to get in the way of the good and strong bilateral relationship between Australia and India which we've taken to new levels in the last couple of years," Mr Smith told reporters on Thursday after attending the Afghanistan conference.
"I advised him of the formation of the high-level working group between the Commonwealth and Victoria to deal with these matters and undertook to keep him regularly provided with information on investigations and prosecutions as they come to hand."
Mr Krishna last week warned the series of recent attacks did not "augur well" for already cool diplomatic relations between Australia and India.
The attacks have put Australia's multi-billion dollar international student sector at risk, with Indian student numbers having fallen significantly in recent months following a series of attacks.
