He will also participate in the Annual Post Forum Dialogue Meeting of the 16-nation Pacific Island Forum (PIF), at which India is a dialogue partner, in Cairns in northeast Australia.

Last week, Smith assured Krishna when the two met in the Thai island resort of Phuket that the Australian government was doing everything possible to ensure the safety of nearly 100,000 Indian students in that country.

Smith discounted the allegedly racist nature of the attacks and explained the background against which they have taken place, arguing that they were primarily 'law and order problems'.

Australia has sent three high-profile delegations, including its education minister and immigration minister, to India to allay anxieties about the safety of Indian students and to project the country as a 'safe education destination'.

Nearly 100,000 Indian students study in Australia, contributing around $2 billion to the country's economy.