Visit to Italy and Belgium

From 13–14 February Minister for Defence, Senator the Hon Marise Payne, will travel to Rome and Belgium for meetings with her counterparts on defence and security matters.

On 13 February the Minister will attend a meeting of Defence Ministers from the Counter-Daesh Coalition in Rome.

Co-hosted by Italian Minister of Defence, Roberta Pinotti, and United States Secretary of Defense, James Mattis, the meeting will bring together Defence Ministers from contributing countries to discuss the military campaigns in Iraq and Syria following the collapse of Daesh’s so-called caliphate.

Minister Payne said the meeting is an opportunity to discuss the important progress made against Daesh in Iraq and Syria in 2017, and the next phase of the Coalition mission.

“It is vital we continue to maintain solidarity as coalition partners in the fight against Daesh in Iraq and Syria,” Minister Payne said.

“The coalition is committed to supporting the Iraqi Security Forces to contain the threat from residual Daesh insurgent and terrorist elements.”

Minister Payne will update the meeting on the outcomes of the inaugural Sub-Regional Defence Ministers’ Meeting on Counter-Terrorism, which she hosted in Perth earlier this month.

“Despite its collapse in Iraq and Syria, Daesh continues to spread its poisonous ideology around the globe, including the Indo-Pacific, so it is important the Coalition remains fully informed of its threat elsewhere,” Minister Payne said.

While in Rome, Minister Payne will also open the ‘Rosemary Goldie Room’ at the Australian Embassy to the Holy See, to honour the contribution of the first woman to hold an official post of authority in the Roman Curia.

The Minister will then travel to Brussels to meet with a number of her counterparts to discuss shared defence, security and strategic interests, on 14 February.