Supporting cooperation in the Indian Ocean Asia Pacific region

  • Media release

Today I will travel to Burma to attend the East Asia Summit (EAS) Foreign Ministers' Meeting, the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) and the ASEAN-Australia Ministerial Meeting.

Australia is committed to working with our partners in East Asia and Southeast Asia to ensure that, together, we are dynamic, resilient and can address the challenges our region faces.

Institutions such as the EAS and ARF play a key role in facilitating cooperation. I look forward to engaging member states of the Association of Southeast Asia Nations (ASEAN) and regional partners on how we can promote greater regional economic integration, stability and prosperity.

Discussions will focus on political developments with implications for our region including the South China Sea, the Korean Peninsula and the downing of Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17.

We will also be exploring ways to enhance financial cooperation and to progress cooperation on transnational issues such as natural disasters and the growing threat of drug resistant malaria.

I welcome the opportunity to work in partnership with our friends and neighbours towards building a region that is peaceful, stable and prosperous.

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