Office of the

Minister for Defence

MEDIA RELEASE

AUSMIN 98 ENHANCES DEFENCE COOPERATION

The Minister for Defence, the Hon Ian McLachlan, said today that the annual ministerial talks with the United States had confirmed the strength and vitality of the alliance relationship and its great value to Australia's defence and foreign policies.

The AUSMIN talks covered a wide range of regional and global developments important to both governments. Major topics included the Asian financial crisis, developments in Indonesia, the nuclear weapon tests by India and Pakistan, and Iraq's compliance with UN Security Council resolutions.

The talks also produced a number of valuable outcomes for the Australian Defence Force (ADF), reflecting the strength of the defence relationship.

These included:

• Agreement to further develop the ability of the Australia and US armed forces to operate together. This includes steps to take advantage of the far-reaching technology changes resulting from the information revolution, and developing more effective planning on how our forces can operate together with this new technology.
  • This agreement supports the emphasis on the knowledge edge in Australia's Strategic Policy released last year.
• Agreement to build a long-term partnership in the field of wide-area surveillance, which involves projects such as Airborne Early Warning and Control aircraft, and Jindalee Operational Radar Network (JORN Project).
• Understandings on technology-sharing in areas of central importance to the effectiveness of the Australian Defence Force and to its capacity to contribute to coalition operations, including submarines, Airborne Early Warning and Control, and combat aircraft capabilities.
• Agreement to develop the relationship between the Australian Defence Force and the US Central Command and Atlantic Command to further the objective of interoperability.
  • The Minister said that Pacific Command would naturally remain the Australian Defence Force's pre-eminent partner.
• Increasing education and training related exchanges in the Defence field.

These and a number of other agreements demonstrate the importance of the alliance to the Australian military in the most practical way. We also reviewed the current military exercise program, agreeing on the continuing value of our agreement in 1996 to enhance exercise activities.

These gains, together with the opportunity for frank exchanges on assessments of, and policy approaches to, key issues of mutual interest made the Ministerial talks extremely valuable.

The talks were held today at HMAS Watson in Sydney, and involved the Ministers for Defence and Foreign Affairs and Trade on the Australian side, with the Secretary for Defence the Hon William Cohen and the Secretary of State, the Hon Madeleine Albright for the United States. The talks also involved the US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, General Henry Shelton, and the Commander-in-Chief, Pacific Forces, Admiral Joseph Prueher.

Media Contact - Liz Bennett - 0419/438 490