Media release
23 September 2009
Meeting with the Rio Group
I met today in the margins of the United Nations General Assembly in New York with Foreign Ministers and senior diplomats representing the Rio Group of countries from Latin America and the Caribbean.
The Rio Group delegation was led by Foreign Minister Patricia Espinosa Cantellano of Mexico, the Chair of the Rio Troika.
The meeting with the Rio Group is a further step towards enhancing Australia’s relations with Latin America and the Caribbean.
Australia is making good progress in this effort through a series of bilateral initiatives launched during my visits to Brazil and Chile in August this year, and my visits to Mexico and Peru in November 2008.
My discussions with the Rio Group addressed the global financial crisis and climate change, two areas in which Australia and the countries of the Rio Group share strong interests.
The Rio Group represents a region of growing importance for Australia. Two-way trade with Latin America alone reached $7 billion in 2008-09. The region is one of the fastest-growing sources of foreign students, with 28,400 enrolments from Latin America in 2008.
The 23 members of the Rio Group includes all countries in Central and South America, as well as the Caribbean island states of Cuba, Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
Media inquiries: Mr Smith's office 02 6277 7500 - Departmental Media Liaison 02 6261 1555