Canberra: Australia's relationship with India has sprung up in the changing world scenario, its foreign minister said, while supporting the new Indo-Pak peace initiative.

"We have been pleased with the recent remarks of Pakistan President (Pervez) Musharraf and heartened with Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's comments. We feel positive about the recent developments and want this deep-rooted problem to be solved soon," Alexander Downer said.

Downer also said the United Nations Security Council should be extended with perhaps 10 permanent and 15 elected members and India with a population of one billion should be one of the 10 permanent members in the Council.

Stressing the importance of India in the region, he recollected the recent signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on co-operation to combat international terrorism between Canberra and New Delhi.

Australia has signed similar counter terrorism agreements with Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines and Fiji.

"The network of counter terrorism MoUs provides a framework for co-operation, including information exchange and capacity building assistance between Australian agencies and their counterparts in these countries," Downer said.

He also noted that Australia now has more Indian and Asian students coming here to study than ever before.

PTI