Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Friday that he was “inclined not to proceed” with this month’s India visit as bushfire crisis continues in the country, The Guardian reported.

His comment came just hours after saying it was “still the plan” to go to India later this month for trade and defence talks.

Morrison was due to travel to India on January 13, before heading on to Japan during the five-day trip.

Morrison on Friday told Melbourne-based talkback radio station 3AW that it was an “important meeting”, and that the plan to attend was “still in place.”

Australia’s coal exports were expected to feature heavily on the Indian trip agenda, according to The Guardian report

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Earlier, Morrison had announced that he had accepted Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s invitation to visit back in October, the report said.

He was also expected to deliver the inaugural Raisina Dialogue address. “But, you know, when you are dealing with these issues, you need to consider the relative merits of the choices,” he was quoted as saying.

The report said that one of those challenges Australia was its fractious relationship with China, and it has increasingly looked to India as a potential buttress against any economic fallout.

Strengthening relationship with New Delhi was one of his priorities of Morrison since becoming prime minister, it said.

The Coalition has also been an unwavering supporter of the Adani Carmichael mine in central Queensland, the report said. Minister for resources and northern Australia Matt Canavan attended a lunch with Adani executives during an official visit to Kolkata in August last year.

Australia government recently has come under criticism for its lack of pollution control measure. A Australian Conservation Foundation report, released mid last year, found that Australia was responsible for at least 5 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, if the pollution from the nation’s fossil fuel exports was included.

Once the pollution from proposed projects was factored in, which included the Adani mine, that number had the potential to jump to 17 percent by 2030, the report said.

First Published:Jan 3, 2020 11:46 AM IST