Celebration of 100 years of diplomacy with the UK
18 February 2010
Media release
I visited London today Thursday 18 February to mark the centenary of Australia’s diplomatic presence in the United Kingdom.
Her Majesty The Queen, His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh and my counterpart Foreign Secretary David Miliband attended a reception at Australia House to mark the centenary.
This milestone is a significant reflection of the warmth and the strength of the relationship between Australia and the United Kingdom.
Australia House is now the longest, continuous diplomatic site in the United Kingdom.
To commemorate the centenary, I opened an exhibition of historical photographs, paintings, documents and artefacts from Australian and British archives, which traces the history of Australia’s representation in the United Kingdom.
I also launched a historical publication, The High Commissioners: Australia’s Representatives in the UK, 1910-2010.
The book was prepared jointly by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Menzies Centre for Australian Studies at King’s College, London.
It was edited by Carl Bridge, Frank Bongiorno and David Lee, and traces the history of Australian High Commissioners to the United Kingdom.
It also reflects the strength of the relationship in the modern day.
The Australia-United Kingdom relationship is not just a historical relationship.
Our modern relationship is underpinned by our shared heritage, common values, and closely aligned strategic outlook.
We are frequent and regular dialogue partners at the highest levels across Government and share similar views on global issues, including security, multilateral cooperation and climate change.
We also share long-standing trade and investment relations and benefit from extensive people-to-people links.
While in London I met my counterpart Foreign Secretary David Miliband.
We last met in the margins of the Afghanistan Conference in London in January.
We continued our discussions on Afghanistan and spoke about our shared concerns on Iran.
Australia works very closely with the United Kingdom on such key strategic issues.
Our commitment to peace and security in Afghanistan is one example of that very close cooperation.
I also met Commonwealth Secretary General Kamalesh Sharma.
I last met Mr Sharma at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Port of Spain in November 2009.
Australia will host the next CHOGM meeting in Perth in 2011.
We discussed early preparations for the meeting.
We also discussed potential reforms to the Commonwealth, particularly the role of the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG).
Media contacts
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