Sydney, 11-12 August 2005

Inaugural Philippines–Australia Ministerial Meeting

Joint Ministerial Statement

The inaugural Philippines-Australia Ministerial Meeting was held in Sydney on 11-12 August 2005. The meeting was co-chaired by Philippine Secretary for Foreign Affairs, His Excellency Alberto Romulo, and Secretary for Trade and Industry, His Excellency Peter Favila, and by the Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs, the Hon Alexander Downer MP and the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Trade, the Hon Mark Vaile MP.

2. Ministers reaffirmed their shared commitment to the Australia-Philippines bilateral relationship. The relationship was broad-based and close, with substantial links through trade, commerce, security and defence cooperation, development assistance and people-to-people links. In this context, Ministers agreed that the establishment of the Philippines-Australia Ministerial Meeting represented an important development, formalising regular high level contact between the two governments and providing a forum for practical cooperation.

3. Ministers recognised the importance of the development cooperation program in assisting the Philippines to reduce poverty, achieve sustainable development and stability. In this context, Ministers agreed that a key prerequisite for growth is the acceleration of economic reform. The reform agenda would be a focus of discussions at the forthcoming High Level Development Assistance Consultations.

4. Ministers acknowledged their shared goal of peace and security in the region. They reviewed the regional security outlook, noting in particular the continuing threat posed to the region by terrorism. Ministers condemned in the strongest terms all acts of terrorism. Ministers agreed that a concerted regional counter-terrorism effort would be required for the long term, and reaffirmed their strong commitment to work together to fight terrorism.

5. Ministers welcomed the partnership between Australia and the Philippines to promote greater cooperation to address regional security issues. While problems remained, including the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, both Australia and the Philippines remained committed to working with other partners in the region to resolve these issues, including through the ASEAN Regional Forum. There was agreement on the fundamental contribution to regional stability of continuing US engagement, and the importance of a stable US-China relationship.

6. Australian Ministers welcomed Philippine Government support for Australian participation in the inaugural East Asia Summit to be held in Kuala Lumpur in December 2005.

7. Ministers welcomed the growing cooperation between Australia and the Philippines in countering terrorism and transnational crime. Australian Ministers assured their Philippine counterparts of Australia's on-going support for Philippine Government efforts to address domestic security issues, including maritime security and border control. Philippine Ministers expressed their appreciation for Australian counter-terrorism assistance, including the doubling of the bilateral assistance package to AUD10 million. Ministers welcomed agreement in-principle to enter into a bilateral Arrangement on the Deployment of Air Security Officers/Air Marshals and looked forward to early conclusion of a Memorandum of Understanding on Immigration and Border Control.

8. Ministers expressed satisfaction at the active and successful implementation of counter-terrorism programs between Australia and the Philippines, particularly in the field of information exchange and capacity-building and looked forward to future cooperation in accordance with existing bilateral agreements. Ministers announced their commitment to establish bilateral inter-agency counter-terrorism consultations to further enhance Philippine and Australian security cooperation.

9. Ministers also discussed the current status of the southern Philippines peace process. Australian Ministers made clear their willingness to support the efforts of the Philippine Government. Ministers looked forward to early progress in the negotiations.

10. Ministers welcomed the Philippine Government's intention to hold the next meeting of the regional Interfaith Dialogue process in early 2006, and agreed to work cooperatively to ensure the meeting was a success.

11. Ministers underlined the importance of people-to-people links between Australia and the Philippines. The possible institution of a regular political exchange between the parliaments of the two countries would be a welcome addition to the bilateral agenda and would further deepen the already good working relationship between both governments.

12. Ministers underscored their commitment to a more dynamic bilateral trade and investment relationship. While many aspects of the relationship were forging ahead, bilateral commercial relations continued to fall short of their full potential. Ministers agreed to work to progress matters relating to existing disputes on market access and quarantine issues. In this context Australia was prepared to continue to extend technical assistance to the Philippines.

13. Ministers agreed that trade disputes should not be permitted to act as an impediment to exploring and developing opportunities to expand the commercial relationship.

14. Ministers agreed to explore and develop other opportunities to expand the commercial relationship such as in the area of trade in services, including in tertiary education and vocational education and training (VET), financial services and ICT.

15. Ministers noted the growing level of Philippine investment in Australia and acknowledged the potential for greater levels of Australian investment in the Philippines. Philippine Ministers also expressed interest in attracting Australian investment in the areas of infrastructure, information and communications technology (ICT), as well as projects under the Brunei Indonesia Malaysia Philippines - East-ASEAN Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA).

16. Ministers agreed that, with a favourable policy framework and greater legal certainty now in place in the Philippines, Australian mining companies were well placed to participate in the development of the Philippines' mineral resources. Increased Australian investment had the potential to yield significant economic and developmental benefits to the Philippines and represented a significant prospective destination for Australian investment.

17. Ministers underlined the importance of trade liberalisation to their countries and the region as a whole. Ministers welcomed progress towards an ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement and agreed to accord a high priority to advancing negotiations towards securing a WTO-consistent and comprehensive agreement.

18. Ministers also recognised the primacy of the WTO in promoting an open, transparent, rules-based multilateral trading system, and accepted its vital contribution towards the continuous liberalisation of international trade and global economic prosperity. Ministers agreed that Australia and the Philippines should continue to co-operate both in the context of the Cairns Group and more broadly to secure a successful conclusion to the Doha Round. Ministers reiterated the need for APEC Leaders to give strong political support for the success of the WTO Ministerial Conference in Hong Kong in December this year and for the conclusion of the Doha Development Agenda (DDA) negotiations in 2006.

19. Ministers also recognised the importance of APEC to attaining greater regional economic prosperity and closer regional security cooperation, and indicated that Australia and the Philippines would continue to work closely in that forum, including in the Energy Working Group and the Counter-Terrorism Task Force.

20. Ministers discussed with representatives of the business community how governments might facilitate greater levels of economic engagement. In doing so, Ministers sought to impress upon business representatives that business decisions would need to be commercially-based and sustainable. Governments could, however, play an important role in establishing an environment conducive to trade and investment.

21. Ministers agreed that officials should work to advance progress on a range of issues agreed in an Action Agenda (Attachment A). Progress in implementing the Action Agenda would be reviewed at Senior Officials' Talks, to be held in the Philippines in 2006 and a report prepared for consideration by Ministers at the next Philippines-Australia Ministerial Meeting.

22. Ministers also agreed that the next Philippines-Australia Ministerial Meeting would be hosted by the Philippines in 2007.

Australia–Philippines Bilateral Action Agenda

Officials will work to take forward the following initiatives:

• Establishing a political exchange program between the Australian and Philippine parliaments.
• Reinstating exchanges under the Philippines Australia Young Leaders' Program.
• Enhancing cooperation on counter-terrorism, transnational crime and security issues, including through
  • establishment of bilateral inter-agency counter-terrorism consultations, and
  • finalising and implementing an Arrangement on the Deployment of Air Security Officers/Air Marshals
• Advancing cooperation on border control and management issues, including through negotiation of an MOU on Migration Cooperation.
• Progressing matters relating to existing bilateral commercial disputes, including market access and quarantine-related issues.
• Continuing Australian assistance for the Philippines to expand areas from which mangoes might be exported to Australia and other countries.
• Promoting interest among Australian companies in investing in the Philippine mining, infrastructure and ICT sectors, including through efforts by the Philippines to streamline administrative and regulatory frameworks to facilitate foreign investment in the mining sector.
• Expanding, with Australian assistance, Philippine understanding of Australian food standards, quarantine and labelling requirements.
• Assisting the Philippines in scoping the requirements for an aeromagnetic survey of mineral deposits.
• Providing assistance to the Philippines through capacity building in trade negotiations, promotion and dispute settlement.
• Increasing cooperation on Brunei Indonesia Malaysia Philippines - East ASEAN Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA).
• Advancing cooperation in the education sector by updating the Country Education profile for the Philippines and exploring the promotion of vocational and technical training links.

Media inquiries : (Minister Downer) 02 6277 7500 - (Minister Vaile) 02 6277 7420