Transcript E&OE
7 October 2009, 1430, Australian Embassy, Warsaw
Interview with Rzeczpospolita - Foreign Editor Jerzy Haszczynski
Subjects: Australia, US, Afghanistan; visit to Poland.
Foreign Editor Haszczynski
Welcome to the Rzeczpospolita TV. Our guest today is the Foreign Minister of Australia, Mr Stephen Smith. One can guess that we shall discuss Australian Foreign policy.
Minister, nice to have you in Poland.
Stephen Smith: Thank you very much.
Jerzy Haszczynski: Thank you for the possibility to ask you some questions. Let's start with the place of Australia in the world. Your country is vey very down under from Europe, it is much closer to Asian powers, what is it like from your geopolitical point of view, is Australia still a western country?
Stephen Smith: Well, we are a country in the Asia-Pacific and whilst our priorities are necessarily regional Asia and the Pacific, our interests are global, which is why we look a little further afield than, to use an Australian expression, our own backyard.
We look to the world, including Europe and last year we signed the Australia-European Union Partnership Framework and as a part of this trip to Europe we will be doing our first review in Stockholm.
But I have come to Poland not just because there is long standing friendly relations between Australia and Poland. But Poland of course recently became a member of EU so our relationship now is not just bilateral but also as a part of the European Union and it sees Australia in Poland having another friend in European Union. That is a good thing for Australia and for a global and international reach.
Jerzy Haszczynski: Does it mean that Australia is a part of western community?
Stephen Smith: Australia is now a diverse and multicultural society. The modern contact between Australia and Poland came in the aftermath of the Second World War where we saw a massive migration program to Australia from war-torn Europe, so very many Poles came.
Since that time our migration program has seen people come from all countries and all continents not just Europe, but now Asia, Africa, South and Latin America. So we are a diverse, multicultural society.
We are also a developed economy. We are member of the G20, we are in the top 15 economies, so we are a developed country. Our history of course is seen to be British or Western or European but we are a developed country we are a unique, in our view, part of Asia, and part of the Pacific. But we see our interest as extending across the globe across the world and that is why the current Australian government has a very expansionist view of our role in the world and the things that we need to do relate to the international community.
Jerzy Haszczynski: Let's talk about America. Former Prime Minister John Howard and former Foreign Minister Alexander Downer were close allies of President Bush. What has changed after Bush and after Howard?
Stephen Smith: The Alliance relationship that Australia has with United States is been in place for over 60 years and the Australia-United States Alliance continues to be the bedrock of our strategic, defence and security arrangements. Governments in Australia come and go, Administrations in the United States come and go but the Alliance is enduring. So we have very close relationship with United States. Just as the current Australian Government worked closely and well with the Bush Administration in its last 12 months or so, we work very closely with the Obama Administration. So, personalities change but the strength of the alliance is ongoing.
I think it is also true to say that the Obama Administration and the current Australian Government very strongly share a view that the challenges that we face in the international community which require either a regional or multilateral response. We both have a much stronger commitment to United Nations, to acting within regional organisations and acting within the United Nations than either the Howard or the Bush Administrations did.
Jerzy Haszczynski: Is Australia ready to take part in all US led military, security, international missions?
Stephen Smith: We have a long standing history in peacekeeping missions. Currently in addition to 1500 troops that we have in Afghanistan we have a peacekeeping mission in East Timor, in Solomon Islands, and we have and make a contribution to other United Nations sponsored missions.
It is important, I think, to remember that the Afghanistan mission, the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan is of course United Nations mandated. So we have had until recently 1100 troops in Afghanistan we increased that recently to 1550 and that we share a similar experience with Poland who has a troop contribution of about 2000.
So we make these judgments on a case by case basis. We are strong supporters of United Nations and regional peacekeeping. But we also make our contribution to international security in difficult theaters like Afghanistan if we think it is the right thing to do and it is in our national interest and in the international community's interest.
On Afghanistan, our strong view is that we need to be there to make a contribution to staring down international terrorism because we have been on receiving end of terrorist atrocities in recent times.
Jerzy Haszczynski: Are you ready to send more troops to Afghanistan?
Stephen Smith: We have recently increased our contribution from 1100 to 1550. We are the largest non-NATO contributor, we're the 10th largest overall. We have not received a request either from United States or from NATO to increase our contribution and we are not expecting one. We think the current contribution we make is appropriate. As I say we've recently increased that from 1100 to 1550.
Jerzy Haszczynski: And the last question for the television Rzeczpospolita. What are the results of your visit to Poland?
Stephen Smith: I have had a very good visit to Warsaw. I am the first Australian Foreign Minister to be here since 2001/2002, the last Polish Foreign Minister to Australia was in 2003.
So there's been too long a period of time and what I agreed with Foreign Minister Sikorski, in addition to him coming to Australia, is there is a lot we think we can do to enhance our bilateral relationship.
We think there is more we can do on the economic front. We also think, because we are likeminded, because we share similar values: democracy, respect for human rights, aand that we can work more closely in the international institutions, particularly the United Nations.
But we have always had warm, friendly and positive relations. That is largely a result of a large Polish community in Australia, nearly 170 000 strong, migrants both after WWII but also in the 1980s in response to marshal law, so there is a strong community link.
We think we can do more on the economic and trade and investment front but also working together and now that Poland is a part of the European Union we also believe that that gives as an additional aspect to focus on. We'd like to enhance the engagement and that is certainly the attitude of Poland and the attitude of the Polish Government.
Jerzy Haszczynski: Thank you Mr Minister
Stephen Smith: My pleasure
Jerzy Haszczynski: Our guest today was the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Australia, Mr Stephen Smith. You can read more of our discussions in Rzeczpospolita.
[ENDS]
Video: http://www.rp.pl/artykul/374413.html
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