PM Phuc attends ASEAN-Australia Special Summit

The event is seen as an opportune occasion for ASEAN and Australian leaders to outline orientations to further strengthen the strategic partnership between the two sides set up in 2014.

In his speech, Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull welcomed the participation of  the ASEAN leaders at this event, held for the first time in Australia under his initiative.

Later the day, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and other ASEAN leaders and the Australian PM engaged in a host activities such as a meeting with former scholarship recipients of the new Colombo Programme in Southeast Asian countries and witnessed the signing of the ASEAN-Australia Memorandum of Understanding on counter-terrorism cooperation.

The MoU is seen as a historic breakthrough in strengthening the two sides’ collaboration in ensuring regional security. Via signed framework agreements, ASEAN and Australia consented to step up counter-terrorism cooperation in terrorist financing and violent extremism. 

The document highlights initiatives and framework agreements covering engineering, anti-terrorism law building, regional dialogues and seminars on electronic evidence, financial intelligence and ways to tackle online radicalisation.

The same day, PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc and other ASEAN leaders attended a reception hosted by PM Turnbull.

The Summit’s plenary session and a retreat meeting are set to transpire on March 18.

The International Counter-Terrorism Conference and the ASEAN-Australia Business Summit were held ahead of the Summit, seeing the attendance of officials, experts and representatives of leading businesses in the region. 

ASEAN and Australia established relations in 1974. Australia was the first nation establishing the official dialogue partnership with ASEAN in all three fields of politics, economics and specialised cooperation.

In 2014, Australia, ASEAN celebrated the 40th anniversary of their relationship which was upgraded to the level of the strategic partnership. In 2017, the first White Book highlighted South East Asia as a region having a profound impact on the future of Australia.