Joint press conference with Mr K Shanmugam, Foreign Minister of Singapore

Bali

Subjects: ASEAN, EAS, asylum seekers, Malaysian horse import ban, Afghanistan

Transcript, E&OE, proof only

21 July 2011

Mr Rudd: First of all as Australian Foreign Minister I’m delighted to be here with our friends and partners and colleagues from the Association of South East Asian Nations and I thank in particular the new Foreign Minister of Singapore for chairing the meeting we just had.

This is an important meeting because for us it’s the annual review of our total relations with each other in the political sphere, the economic sphere and more broadly as well.

For Australia this is a really important relationship.

We have something like $62 billion worth of trade with the countries and the economies of South East Asia. We have around $104 billion worth of investment.

And on top of that we have very intense cooperation in a range of other fields as well.

We said in the session before, that between us, with the recent ratification by Indonesia of the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement, that we now have a combined economy between Australia and ASEAN of some $3.1 trillion.

And to put that into context, Chinese GDP is about $5.8 trillion. And this is a very significant piece of, let me describe it as economic activity, between our economies. And we have a responsibility to build further the trade and investment relationships between us because much can be done to lift living standards across our wider region. Of course, beyond the trade and economic relationship we have a very significant development relationship with many countries in Southeast Asia as well. We have an annual program of around $1.1 billion, assisting to build schools, provide health services and enhance food security in the developing countries of Southeast Asia. And we stand ready to do more of that into the future.

Finally, we discussed the importance of the emergence and the development of the East Asia Summit.

This decision to include both the United States and Russia into the East Asia Summit is a product of wise statesmanship on the part of our friends in Southeast Asia. It now brings the principal players to the table to discuss a wide-ranging number of challenges we face on political, on security, on economic, on social and environmental questions as they arise.

And now for this to occur at Summit level and annually, is a very good development to maintain the peace and security of our region into the future, as it underpins the prosperity we have seen in recent years. So across these fields, whether it’s development cooperation, trade and development, or our upcoming cooperation in the East Asia Summit more broadly, Australia values these relationships intensely with the Association of South East Asian Nations, and I thank, in particular, the Foreign Minister of Singapore for his excellent Chairmanship and his friendship as evidenced in the meeting we had this morning.

Mr Shanmugam: Thank you Minister Rudd. We had extremely good discussions. All the ASEAN countries as well as Australia, shared very frankly our views.

I think the relationship is one of the oldest we have and Australia is a very good friend of ASEAN. And over many years, the relationship has spanned the political, the security, the economic fields, as well as social, including thousands of students from ASEAN going over to Australia to get their education.

So that is now being taken to the next level through a greater, closer, economic partnership through the AANZFTA. And as Mr Rudd pointed out, this is a $3.1 trillion economy in total that we’re talking about.

And with closer integration and by removing the blocks along the way, we will be doing our respective peoples a lot of service. And it is a golden opportunity for businesses both in ASEAN and Australia and for the people, so we should do everything we can to push this along.

We also discussed the point of ASEAN connectivity—part of the ASEAN Community building efforts—and Minister Rudd was very enthusiastic about that and again this holds tremendous promise for businesses both in ASEAN and Australia. So we discussed the possibilities of doing seminars, doing road shows, to show people what the opportunities are and what they can tap into. We had very good discussions.

And on the EAS, as I pointed out to Minister Rudd and our colleagues, he provided the original thought, the leadership in coming up with the idea of the Asia Pacific community. And I told him it has now found its realisation through the EAS, which is to cover a number of priority areas – again, political, social, economic, and discussing annually key issues, and it brings in the United States, Russia and we look forward to very fruitful discussions. Thank you.

Mr Rudd: Minister, why don’t you choose an ASEAN journalist to start with and I’ll choose an Australian. Over to you. Mr Shanmugam: OK, Straits Times.

Journalist: I would like to ask both of you, how do you view the developments of the ASEAN meetings over the last few days and what does the agreement on the South China Sea mean to Australia’s engagement with ASEAN via the EAS or ARF?

Mr Rudd: Firstly, the importance of the South China Sea extends not just to the countries of the Association of South East Asian Nations but to the economies of North East Asia, the economies of the Middle East, the economy of Australia and the economy of India and more broadly. In fact, a huge proportion of world trade flows through the waters of the South China Sea. Therefore we all, in particular our friends in ASEAN, have an interest in ensuring that we have a peaceful and stable regime for managing those waterways in the future.

Secondly, as I said before, I congratulate the progress which is being made by our friends in the Association of South East Asian Nations in the evolution of what is called the DOC (Declaration of Conduct), the evolution of what is called the COC (Code of Conduct) and I believe there has been wise statesmanship shown by our friends and colleagues in the Association of South East Asian Nations in recent days, which provides a strong foundation for the future in making sure we’ve got that stable and secure regime we’ve spoken of.

Finally, in terms of how these things are handled into the future, the wonderful thing about our region is that we have wonderful institutions like the EAS, which can deliberate on these questions of maritime security at summit level. It can also be discussed by defence ministers at the ASEAN Defence Ministers Plus meeting; they can also be deliberated upon at the ASEAN Regional Forum level. The key thing is to evolve among us what I describe as a common sense of security across East Asia and the Pacific, including maritime security, so we can guarantee peace and stability in this region into the future, so that economic growth and prosperity and rising living standards are not disrupted by conflict into the future.

Now, an Australian journalist?

Journalist: Minister, there are now more than 450 asylum seekers who have arrived in Australia post May the 7th ; talks with Papua New Guinea don’t seem to be going anywhere and there is not yet an agreement with Malaysia to hand these people onto a third country as the Government has promised. Do you think you’ll be able to do anything to expedite these things between now and when you go into hospital?

Mr Rudd: I’m having what they call a ‘grease and oil change’, a bit of surgery.

First of all what we did, in March on this island of Bali, was we were the first region in the world to frame a regional framework agreement for the handling of the challenge of asylum seekers, which faces all of the countries of Southeast Asia and beyond.

If you go to that regional framework agreement, it is a significant arrangement put together by foreign ministers across the region and those that choose to use that voluntary arrangement between them as we have chosen to do, and as negotiations such as unfolding now, with Malaysia, is to provide a proper system which guarantees the adherence to the principles of international humanitarian law, the proper obligations which exist under the refugees convention, as well as developing a system which provides a deterrent to people smugglers, who are the enemy of asylum seekers, and, frankly, the stability of international order worldwide.

Now, on the bilateral arrangements between Malaysia and Australia, that of course lies in the responsibility of the Immigration Minister Chris Bowen. And he has advised me that great progress has been achieved.

As to the particular question of further negotiations with Papua New Guinea, of course, I will be meeting with the Papua New Guinea Foreign Minister, I understand, here in Bali. And given the political circumstances in Port Moresby at the moment and the possibility of a transition to new political leadership in Port Moresby, we have to be cautious about how we proceed with that. But I stand ready to assist in whatever human way I can, between now and the 1st of August.

Journalist: Sir, sorry my question is out of context but I need your comment about Malaysia’s bans today over the Australian imported race horses because of viruses.

Mr Rudd: Ok, you’re referring to the Hendra virus.

Every sovereign country will take its own decisions based on appropriate quarantine decisions and appropriate animal health standards.

The authorities in Australia are dealing with what is called an outbreak of Hendra virus in my own home state of Queensland for some several weeks now.

We are doing everything that is humanly possible to contain the spread of that virus. I respect the decisions of any regional governments to take whatever response they believe is appropriate given their own quarantine arrangements.

But I can say to our friends and partners in the region, the resources of both the Australian Government and the Queensland Government have been deployed to deal with this challenge. We’ve had one before. We dealt with it. We’ve got it again and we’ll deal with it.

Journalist: Mr Rudd is it possible that those 450 asylum seekers that were mentioned earlier could go to Papua New Guinea still then? The Malaysians have made it clear that until the agreement is finalised and signed it won’t include people that have already arrived in Australia by boat. Is it possible that those asylum seekers that are in limbo now could be part of a solution with Papua New Guinea? And secondly, may I ask you, in a possible meeting with the United States , will you be discussing Afghanistan and do you have any concerns about the US plans to speed up their withdrawals of troops, considering Australia’s not withdrawing until 2014?

Mr Rudd: The first question concerning asylum seekers, as I said, carriage lies with the Immigration Minister Chris Bowen. So on that group of 450 that you’ve referred to, I would really request that you put that question to him and his office.

What I have indicated for a long period of time is that as political circumstances in Port Moresby clarify, that I will engage in appropriate discussions with PNG authorities as to what might be possible there. But the interconnection between the two, those negotiations on the one hand and these 450 that you refer to, that is entirely in the hands of the Immigration Minister.

On the second point which goes to Afghanistan, we, the United States and other countries follow a common strategy on Afghanistan.

It was framed at the Lisbon Summit at the end of last year. It has been operationalised between meetings of Defence and Foreign Ministers since then. It is mindful of the target which President Karzai has set for the transfer of primary responsibility for security to Afghan forces by 2014. We are working to that timetable. We believe that we’ve got our force mix right in Uruzgan province to do that in our part of the country.

The ADF are doing a fantastic job on the ground training up the 4th Brigade of the Afghan National Army and the Afghan National Police. We’re on track to meet our timetables. So we’ll make our force structure decisions and our force deployment decisions to meet our timetable obligations. And the United States will of course too. And when I meet with the Secretary of State, I’m sure Afghanistan will be on the agenda, as will be other challenges we face in this region as well.

Journalist: I would like to get a response from both Ministers. The EAS meetings will start tomorrow. Are there concerns about the centrality of ASEAN when the US and Russia join the group this year? Mr Shanmugam: I don’t think there are any concerns about the centrality of ASEAN. It is something that all of our partners accept and agree to. And this point has been made in a different number of ways. For example, as Minister Rudd pointed out, how the total economies of ASEAN and Australia is $3.1 trillion. And Australia has been emphasizing quite a bit, upping its engagement with ASEAN, primarily because it recognises the centrality of ASEAN in a variety of fields, in particular the economic field. So I think the centrality of ASEAN and the role it can play is recognised by everyone and accepted.

Mr Rudd: If I can add to that, the reason why countries like Australia fully accept ASEAN as being at the core of these new institutional arrangements is because ASEAN itself is a great institutional success story.

Look at the history of the last 30 or 40 years, what has ASEAN achieved? It has converted a lot of states that had security problems and territorial claims against each other and ideological difficulties with each other, into a region which has high degrees of strategic cooperation, high degrees of economic integration, moving towards and ASEAN Community by 2015.

It stands out in my view, as an example for what the wider region should be looking at.

In the wider East Asia and the Pacific, the wider challenge before us for institutions like the East Asia Summit is to be very mindful of the institutional experience of ASEAN as we seek to extend those protocols more broadly: confidence and security building measures, counter-disaster management exercises and planning, like our ASEAN friends do internally, as well as of course rising to challenges like maritime security as well.

There is much to learn from ASEAN; much institutional wisdom in ASEAN.

Mr Shanmugam: We should see these as overlapping institutions. And it adds to the robustness of the regional arrangements. Each one has a role: ADMM, ASEAN Plus, ARF. So you have different institutions—APEC—and a wide variety of issues are discussed. Of course there are overlaps.

Journalist: But would you be concerned if Burma becomes the host in a couple of years time of message that that would send? Mr Rudd: This is a question for ASEAN itself, of which we are not members, in terms of ASEAN’s Chairmanship, so I’ll defer comment.

Mr Shanmugam: You know what ASEAN Leaders have agreed on - they have tasked the Chair of ASEAN this year to look at the ability of Myanmar to become Chair and its readiness to become Chair and that process is ongoing.

Journalist: You said that the total of the economy combined is $3.1 trillion dollars. So any plan to double that between the two?

Mr Rudd: How long have you got? By lunchtime, what do you reckon?

Mr Shanmugam: By tomorrow!

Journalist: Any new projects from Australia to invest in the region?

Mr Rudd: Can I say, what I think is a great initiative from ASEAN is connectivity across the region, because what they’re doing is building economic arteries across the wider region and beyond - to the economies of South Asia; to the economies of North Asia; of North East Asia; as well as within themselves. And in Australia, with the passage of the ratification of the new ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement, we now have as of this year, a platform to do much, much more. Our entrepreneurs, our business people, our education institutions are engaged in depth in every capital in ASEAN doing new things. Our business communities are investing in both directions. Our mining community in Australia is active across so many economies across Southeast Asia. Can I say the prospects are very rich indeed.

And as the Minister said before, with a 107,000 kids from ASEAN studying at Australian universities every year, and us, with a couple of thousand scholarships from the government each year from ASEAN, the human links now will become deeper, broader and more extensive. A lot of those folks will go and work in business.

They will have friends and partnerships right across the wider region. So I’m very optimistic that at least by tomorrow afternoon we will double the total combined economies.

Mr Shanmugam: If you look at where we were, where we are today and where we are going, this new Free Trade Agreement coming into force, 600 million people in ASEAN and a developed country, Australia, the resources that can be out together, the connectivity, the opportunity, I think we are talking about enormous opportunity.

Thank you.

END

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