Melbourne plays host to a special summit this month, bringing together leaders from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) bloc representing Australia’s largest two-way trading partner.
Timor-Leste will also attend the special summit as an observer member.
In a statement, prime minister Anthony Albanese said Australia was proud to be a dialogue partner with the bloc.
“Building Australia’s links with the countries of Southeast Asia is a priority for the government,” the PM said.
“The special summit commemorates our shared history and focuses firmly on the future – on how we can deepen our ties and Australia’s engagement with our region.”
Participating leaders will use the special summit to discuss bolstering ASEAN-Australia cooperation, a shared vision for the region’s future and how to work together to address shared challenges. Australia’s Southeast Asia economic strategy to 2040 will also be a feature of the talks.
On the side of next week’s special summit program, Albanese will meet with a number of Southeast Asian leaders as a guest of the Australian government. These meetings will be convened with the Philippines president Ferdinand Marcos Jr, Malaysia prime minister Anwar Ibrahim, Laos prime minister Sonexay Siphandone and Vietnam prime minister Pham Minh Chính.
Albanese will also join bilateral meetings with the leaders of Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Thailand, Timor-Leste and the ASEAN secretary-general.
The Australia-Singapore Annual Leaders Meeting will also be convened next week with Singapore prime minister Lee Hsien Loong.
ASEAN is regarded as one of Australia’s key trading partners, and in 2022 two-way trading between the bloc and Australia reached about $178 billion. The two-way investment between Australia and the bloc that same year was $289.7 billion.
Albanese said Australia’s strong and far-reaching connections with the ASEAN region were anchored by families, friends, education and business. More than 1 million Australians have Southeast Asian heritage.
“Australia sees ASEAN at the centre of a stable, peaceful, and prosperous region. Strengthening our relationship ensures our shared future prosperity and security,” Albanese said.
“I look forward to welcoming my counterparts to Australia to discuss the shared challenges facing our region, opportunities to enhance our prosperity and how we can build on our strong relationships.”
States that are members of the ASEAN bloc, established in 1967, include Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. Brunei Darussalam, Vietnam, Lao PDR, Myanmar and Cambodia later joined the 10-member group.
Australia gained formal status as ASEAN’s first dialogue partner in 1974. In 2021, Australia then became a comprehensive strategic partner of the bloc from which a number of deeper cooperation initiatives were born known as the ‘Australia for ASEAN (Aus4ASEAN) initiatives’.
Ahead of meetings between international leaders, the special summit will hold events aligned to thematic ‘tracks’ that bring together business and community leaders, experts and academics.
These tracks will focus on boosting Australia and ASEAN’s economic engagement, supporting an accelerated clean energy transition in the region, increasing practical maritime cooperation and supporting the region’s current crop of emerging leaders.
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