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STEPHEN SMITH: Thanks very much for turning up. Can I officially welcome Ghana's Foreign Minister, Foreign Minister Mumuni to Australia? It's not the first time that we have met, but it is the first time that we've met in Australia. Indeed, it is the first formal full bilateral visit by a Ghanaian Foreign Minister to Australia.

One of Minister Mumuni's predecessors has been to Australia for a CHOGM meeting, for a Commonwealth meeting, but we welcome very much, Minister, the first visit to Australia for a full bilateral program of a Foreign Minister of Ghana.

Minister Mumuni has been in Perth and in addition to Canberra will also travel to Sydney for a full program.

Australia and Ghana have long standing, warm and friendly bilateral relations. We were one of the first countries to recognise an independent Ghana and over the years we've both had missions in our respective countries and we've both had missions in our respective capitals since the middle of the 2000s, 2004 and 2005. And we welcome very much that formal diplomatic engagement.

The relationship between Australia and Ghana is growing at every level. Firstly, economically, Ghana is in the top half dozen African partners so far as trade, investment and the economy is concerned. And we see a growing presence in Ghana of Australia's minerals and petroleum resources industry.

In addition to bilateral exchanges, in addition to those economic matters, we also have a number of scholarships for Ghanaian students, technical assistance for, and fellowships in, the minerals industry and a develop assistance partnership.

In addition to those matters, we are firm friends on the international stage. We are, of course, both long standing members of the Commonwealth and indeed this year, Ghana chairs the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group, of which Australia is also a Ministerial member. And we welcome very much Ghana's chairing of the Ministerial Action Group and we look forward to Ghana attending the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Perth next year.

In addition to that, we collaborate on the international stage, whether it is, for example, the WTO - the World Trade Organisation, or the United Nations itself.

Our relationship with Ghana, we believe, can be taken to a higher level. It reflects our very strong view that Australia's engagement and relationship both with the continent and the countries of Africa needs to be substantially improved. And the Minister and I have discussed a range of areas where we believe this relationship can be enhanced and we want to formalise that with a plan of action.

On the development assistance front, we will have discussions as to what more Australia can do to help build Ghana's capacity.

On the Commonwealth front, we'll work closely together, as chair and member of the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group and also work closely together when we see the work of the Commonwealth Eminent Persons Group looking at reform of the Commonwealth.

But we both very strongly share the view that the continuing role of the Commonwealth must be to continue in its areas of strengths: values and virtues, respecting and protecting democracy, respecting and protecting human rights.

On the defence and security front, Ghana is a leading advocate for peace and security in Africa. It plays a leading role, both in West Africa and in Africa generally. Indeed, like Australia, Ghana has peacekeepers in a number of countries throughout Africa. One of the areas where we believe our relationship can be enhanced is in the peace and security, peacekeeping and peace building front.

I recently announced that Australia would start an embassy, start a mission, in Addis Ababa - accredited to not just Ethiopia but to the African Union. As part of that embassy we will have a defence attaché and the role of the defence attaché will be to build peace and security relationships with the African Union, but also with the regional peacekeeping groups and missions within Africa itself. So we look forward to enhancing our engagement on the peacekeeping and peace building front.

Can I finish by referring to, in some respects, one of the most important aspects of our relationship? I have indicated to the Minister that from a personal point of view and from the Government's point of view and, I hope, from the Australian point of view, that we will strongly support Ghana in the quarter final knockout game late on Friday night against Uruguay.

Australia and Ghana of course played in the first round, a one all draw between the Socceroos and the Black Stars. My analysis is that the further Ghana progresses the greater the reflected glory on the Socceroos. So Minister, we wish the Black Stars all the best for Friday night and we hope that you successfully navigate into the quarter finals.

Minister, I'd like you to make some opening remarks and then we'll respond to questions. Thank you.

ALHAJI MUHAMMED MUMUNI: Thank you very much, the Honourable Mr Stephen Smith, my honourable colleague and friend. I would like, first of all, to thank you personally and also, through you, to the Government and people of Australia, for this opportunity for me to be here, for the invitation and for the courteous and warm welcome I have received with my delegation. Since we have been here we have been treated very humanely and we are truly grateful.

I would like to affirm the fact that Ghana-Australia relationship has come a really long way. We have very cherished relations, both at bilateral and much larger levels. A relationship that has been both productive and satisfactory and I believe that high level visits like the one I've had the opportunity to pay will enhance that relationship and make it possible for our two countries to mutually benefit from that very high relationship.

I'd like to take the opportunity at this point in time to also express our desire and our determination to welcome you, your Excellency, to our country for a visit as soon as you can manage it. I do know how very complicated your program is, especially with the new addition that you've just recently received, for which I congratulate you.

As you have indicated, which is indeed very true, Australia has been a very strategic partner to my country. Australia has been very forthcoming with support in terms of our capacity building in our country.

In terms of our attempts to entrench democracy in our system, Australia, alongside other Commonwealth countries, has been very supportive of Ghana's democracy. Our electoral systems and processes have benefited from Australian assistance, for which we are really grateful.

Today, if Ghana is seen as a beacon of African democracy, clearly Australia is partly to account for that status that we have achieved, of which we are really grateful.

Ghana and Australia are both very credible members of the Commonwealth association, which as you know is a value-driven organisation. We have the shared values of democracy, of fundamental human rights, of the rule of law and accountable Government and it is our determination that in our relations with Australia we will continue to improve the quality of our democracy in our country, recognising that Australia is one of the very high profile democracies anywhere in the world.

Clearly in that context, Australia and Ghana are also members of the UN system that believes in entrenching international peace and cooperation.

Ghana has benefited from assistance, in terms of its ability to participate in United Nations International Peacekeeping Operations across the world. We've been in several peacekeeping operations. Presently we are in five theatres of peacekeeping on the African continent.

It is our determination to export the peace that we enjoy in our country as the foundation for crafting democratic systems and also building sustainable economic infrastructure and systems in our respective countries.

Australia has been helpful, especially in supporting the Kofi Annan Peacekeeping Training Centre in Accra, which is devoted to training peacekeepers for peacekeeping operations and we cherish that support and we are looking forward to a further enhancement of that.

In terms of the economy really, there has been an interface of the private sector right here in Australia and in our country, particularly in the area of mining. Australian companies have been extremely busy in our country and have contributed over the years in building the Ghanaian economy.

It is a win-win type of situation where mutual benefits are derived by both the Australian investors and by the people of my country. And we are grateful and we are still appealing or inviting Australian investors to come and see the opportunities that we have in our country. We have deliberately made ourselves attractive in order to attract foreign direct investment into our country.

There are very many areas of endeavours where we have cooperated with the Australian Government and we are seeking to deepen that relationship. Especially we welcome the enhanced re-engagement of Australia in Africa and we think that that re-engagement will bear fruit for our country and all the other countries in the African continent.

We are extremely grateful for it. Thank you very much.

STEPHEN SMITH: Minister thanks, thanks very much. We're happy to respond to your questions on Australia and Ghana, and Australia and Africa, and then I'm happy to deal with any domestic matters if people have questions on that front.

QUESTION: Minister Mumuni, did you discuss Australia's bid for a seat on the UN Security Council and would Ghana support Australia in that bid?

ALHAJI MUHAMMED MUMUNI: Yes indeed we did discuss that and I have, I said that Ghana is deeply impressed about Australia's standing in the UN system, as a country that is committed to international peace and security, and we in Ghana are very happy to support Australia to get onto the UN Security Council because we believe that it is for the total good of the world.

STEPHEN SMITH: If I can just add to that, we obviously welcome very much Ghana's support for our Security Council bid, an election in 2012 for the 2013/14 term. But I've made the point before, the need for Australia to enhance its engagement with Africa and the countries of Africa, goes way beyond that short term Security Council bid. There are long-term economic, security and strategic reasons why it makes sense for Australia to enhance its engagement with Africa, both as a continent and also the African Union.

One of the other areas of conversation we had was Australia's engagement with some of the regional groupings of Africa. People would be familiar, for example, with our engagement with SADC, the Southern African Development Community organisation, which has the oversight of the Global Political Agreement in Zimbabwe, which the Minister and I also discussed.

But we also spoke about the Western African economic regional group that Ghana plays a leading role in. So we've also spoken about the need for Australia to engage regionally.

But we value very much the support that Ghana has given us, so far as the Security Council bid is concerned.

QUESTION: Just another question for the Minister on that topic. There's been some criticism in Australia of the Australian bid for the Security Council seat which has entailed some aid spending going towards Africa now. Some criticism says Australia should focus more on the region. How would you respond to people who say that Australia shouldn't be focusing this much on Africa?

ALHAJI MUHAMMED MUMUNI: Well you know, the world has become a global village and the issues that afflict one region naturally afflict the other regions as well. And therefore if their situation, especially with regards to peace and security in Africa, is in a dire state clearly it does not give comfort to Australians or to other nationalities across the world. And therefore the whole world community needs to focus on the issues that concern Africa so that they can also handle the issues that concern themselves. There is a move towards multilateralism, international cooperation and it is important that we, as members of the human community invest in it.

QUESTION: Minister Mumuni, there is a report on 80 miners trapped in a gold mine in your country. Do you have any update on that situation?

ALHAJI MUHAMMED MUMUNI: Yes. Really, it's a very tragic event, quite frankly. Some operations in the country are small scale mining operations that are not entirely legal, and therefore are not very well regulated.

And what has happened, really, is a real unfortunate situation, and we will definitely take steps to ensure that it does not recur in the future.

QUESTION: Minister, a question on climate change. Did you discuss climate change in your meetings or does Ghana have a perspective on where they would like international negotiations to go?

ALHAJI MUHAMMED MUMUNI: Well, there was a whole list of issues that we had to rumble through. Climate change, clearly, is a very important feature of relations between my country and Australia, in so far as it is a human problem and that we recognise the urgency of climate change.

At the level of the Commonwealth there was a position, a Commonwealth position, to which both Ghana and Australia are subscribed to, and both agree the urgency of putting in place various mechanisms for adaptation and to, as it were, accommodate the issues of climate change.

But, clearly, for us, in Africa, climate change perhaps presents the most comprehensive challenge to human security. We're beginning to see the effects of it, and we would go along with the entire community, world community, to make sure that the issues of climate change are realistically and urgently handled.

STEPHEN SMITH: I'll just add a couple of points. We're both, of course, supporters of the Copenhagen Accord.

Just on the aid question, I'll just make this point. I had, as I have today, made the point that our need in Australia's national interest to engage in Africa transcends any short term Security Council campaign. That it is both in our economic interest, in our strategic interest.

We're a great trading country, like Ghana. We're a country of 23 million people. To make our way in the world, and continue to make our way in the world in a prosperous way, we can't ignore a continent of nearly a billion people made up of 50 countries.

And Australian business and industry is voting with its feet, in terms of its economic and commercial engagement with Africa. With Ghana we have minerals resources, as an example. And mineral resources, petroleum resources and a range of other world-class Australian industries, including agriculture, are now finding their way and their presence in Africa, and this is a very important thing from Australia's long term economic interest.

Strategically, you can't ignore a continent of over 50 countries which meets to discuss multilateral issues in the context of the African Union; which is why we also have a relationship with the African Union.

On the development assistance front, across the board, in our engagement with Africa, and we make no apology to expanding our development assistance program to the continent of Africa. Historically, of course, we've had development assistance programs with a number of African countries. We are expanding that and we're doing that because we believe that in key areas of governance, of regulatory arrangements, in water, water sanitation, environmental protection, in food and food security, we can help build Africa's capacity.

And the conversations that Minister Mumuni and I had today were about what more can Australia do to help build Ghana's capacity in these key areas. We're looking at building capacity in the legal field, law and law enforcement, in a range of regulatory areas.

For all some people assert about development assistance to Africa, Australia's program continues to be focused on the Asia-Pacific region. Some 55 to 60 per cent of our development assistance program is in the Asia-Pacific region. Five per cent of our program is in Africa.

And I also make this point. The Australian people are also voting with their feet when it comes to supporting humanitarian and development assistance to Africa. I'm very happy to be corrected on the figure, but my memory is that in the last calendar year Australians contributed, through appeals to Australian and international NGOs for assistance to Africa, some $280 million.

So Australians are voting with their feet, as is their Government sensibly also voting for Australia's long term national interest, which requires an engagement with Africa.

QUESTION: Can I just ask a question further to that. Australia's bid for the UN Security Council has been associated with Kevin Rudd who's no longer Prime Minister. Are you expecting this Government will pursue that seat?

STEPHEN SMITH: Yes, I've made it clear in interviews that I've had in my new capacity as Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade that we continue to believe that a seat on the Security Council is a worthy thing for Australia to pursue, is in Australia's national interests as the Minister himself has said.

All of the key challenges and issues that we face these days in the modern world can't be dealt with by one country acting alone. It can only be dealt with by acting together with other countries, either regionally, for example, with the African Union, or multilaterally through the premier international institution that we have, the United Nations.

We are a long standing member and supporter of the United Nations. We are in the top 20 contributors, just as we are in the top 20 economies, reflected by our G20 membership.

And the short-term, narrow, isolationist view that is sometimes put about our engagement with the United Nations is not in our national interest, is backward looking and doesn't help protect and defend Australia's economic, social, strategic or security interests.

A couple of domestics?

QUESTION: Do you think Mr Smith that there is room for greater regional cooperation on people smuggling beyond what's already happening?

STEPHEN SMITH: We engage very keenly with the Bali Process, which is the formal regional institution that deals with people smuggling, human trafficking and people movement. Australia co-chairs the Bali Process together with Indonesia.

And last year, then Indonesian Foreign Minister, Hassan Wirajuda and I were responsible for convening, for the first time in four or five years, a ministerial level meeting of the Bali Process, dealing with all of the issues and problems that source, transit and destinations countries have. And whilst, in the domestic sense, of course, there is an understandable focus on people movement from Sri Lanka and from Afghanistan, other countries in our region are source or destination countries for different populations and experience different people movements.

Indonesian Foreign Minister Natalegawa and I have agreed that in the course of this year Australia and Indonesia will convene a further ministerial level meeting of the Bali Process to continue to deal with these matters.

In the meantime, there are a series of working groups which deal at the officials' level with a range of the difficulties that all countries in our region face as a result of the push factors, which see people moving from Sri Lanka, as a result of a long standing conflict or, indeed, people moving from Afghanistan.

QUESTION: There's expectation that the Gillard Government could make an announcement within days about further regional co-operation. Is that likely?

STEPHEN SMITH: Well, I never make comments about timing for Government announcements, but that is not an expectation I share.

QUESTION: Are the conditions in place that would necessitate a prolonging of the suspension of claims from asylum seekers from Sri Lanka [indistinct] 8 July?

STEPHEN SMITH: The Government has to make a decision about the suspension for Sri Lankan asylum seekers. That is something the Government is currently giving very careful consideration to and when a decision is made the Government will make an announcement.

QUESTION: When are you expecting that revised assessment from the UNHCR about Sri Lanka?

STEPHEN SMITH: That will be a matter for the UNHCR, but obviously that is one of the relevant material factors going to the Government's decision making process. But we will consider all of the relevant matters, as we did when we made our decision to suspend processing, both from Sri Lanka and from Afghanistan. And when we've made the decision in respect of Sri Lanka it will be announced by the Government. Obviously that will be before the expiration of the current three month suspension.

QUESTION: There was a story on Lateline last night on people smuggling. It was about policing in Lombok and the policing being ad hoc and under resourced. It said they could do a much better job to stop people smugglers if there was more resourcing. Is Australia concerned about that and what might Australia do?

STEPHEN SMITH: I didn't see the story, and my attention hasn't been drawn to that, so I won't make any comments in respect of that. If I need to at some stage I will. But as a general proposition, Australia works very closely with Indonesia on these matters, and working in cooperation with Indonesia we apply significant resources to combat people smuggling, both in terms of the operation of our agencies, cooperating with Indonesian agencies or, indeed, the Border Protection and Customs patrols that we have significantly enhanced.

But we recognise and understand that we need to continue to effectively re-double our efforts. And our conversations with Indonesia on a bilateral front, our conversation with Indonesia as part of the Bali Process, continually causes us to see whether there is more that we can do together with Indonesia.

Indonesia, of course, is not the only country where we have very significant cooperation. Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Thailand, there are a range of countries in our region where, through the Bali Process or bilaterally, we cooperate very significantly on people smuggling and human trafficking issues, including efforts to disrupt the activities of the people smugglers themselves.

QUESTION: Just on Fiji, you condemned the Fijian Government yesterday for their foreign media crackdown. Is there anything more the Australian Government can do, or is thinking of doing, to try and coax Fiji onto a path to democracy?

STEPHEN SMITH: We have been making, and recently we doubled our efforts through the Foreign Minister's PIF Ministerial Contact Group to try and get a sensible dialogue going with Fiji, with the interim government.

I've made the point before, it's very hard to have a one-way dialogue. Interim Foreign Minister, Kubuabola, presented at the Ministerial Contact Group meeting in Auckland. There was agreement that the Ministerial Contact Group would go to Fiji. But in very short order Commodore Bainimarama, effectively, withdrew that invitation. We were disappointed by that.

But we do need to continue to work at finding a way back into a sensible dialogue with Fiji to return Fiji to democracy. But everything which has occurred in Fiji - and another example was illustrated yesterday - has seen a deteriorating economic and social circumstance for the people of Fiji.

We have unanimous agreement, both in the Commonwealth and in the Pacific Islands Forum, that Fiji is suspended from both the Commonwealth and the Pacific Island Forums until such time as we see a genuine effort and genuine progress back to democracy. And we'll continue to work very closely, not just with our Commonwealth friends, but with our Pacific friends, to effect that.

But we, at present, are deeply disappointed with the conduct of the interim administration, and I think our frustration at Commodore Bainimarama's refusal to engage in any productive way, our frustration is shared by not just the international community, but particularly by the Pacific community.

QUESTION: You're going to a meeting in Melbourne tomorrow, the PNG LNG ministerial meeting to talk about managing revenue from the LNG project in PNG. What are you hoping to achieve?

STEPHEN SMITH: Yes. It's one of the first meetings that I'll attend in my new capacity as Minister for Trade. Last night I met in Sydney with New Zealand Trade Minister Tim Groser and tomorrow, together with my colleague, Nick Sherry, we will meet with Papua New Guinea Ministers to discuss the Papua New Guinea liquefied natural gas project, which Australia supports.

There are revenue stream issues, development assistance issues and general development issues in which Australia and Papua New Guinea have a shared interest. So it's the first meeting of a committee of ministers. I'm looking very much forward to it.

We, of course, are strong friends and partners with Papua New Guinea. It's one of our largest development assistance projects. But there is the potential with the liquefied natural gas project for a substantial improvement to Papua New Guinea's economic development. And Papua New Guinea and Australia are both keen to work side by side and in partnership to maximise that potential.

I just have one matter to raise, if people are happy. Some of you might be aware that in recent weeks we've had a young Western Australian woman, Millie Johnston, who was travelling in Ecuador, who was missing after the vehicle in which she was travelling ran into a river.

It's my very sad duty to confirm that yesterday her remains were found and her identity confirmed. And so we are, of course, obviously, very distressed for her parents, for her family in Western Australia.

We are providing her family in Western Australia with every assistance, and we will now help the family bring Millie home.

But it was a very sad moment for the family and for our officials yesterday. So I extend my condolences to the Johnston family in Perth in Western Australia.

Okay. Thanks very much.

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