Opening remarks - Australia-Japan Defence Ministers' Meeting

SUBJECTS: Australia-Japan relationship; Mogami Memorandum

DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER, RICHARD MARLES: Minister Koizumi. Shin, my good friend, welcome. It's fantastic to have you in my home state, in Victoria, and we are really excited about your visit. This is the third time that you and I have met this year, and that's intentional, and I think it demonstrates that when the world is very challenging, as it is right now with everything that's playing out in the Middle East, the country that we feel we want to be speaking to the most is Japan. As I've said many times, there is no country in the world with whom we have a greater strategic alignment than Japan. And in all that we face, now is a critically important time for us to be speaking and speaking frequently. And having now finalised the contracts around Mogami, today we will sign the Mogami Memorandum. And I'm really excited about us going and visiting JS Kumano which is, I think it's Station Pier. Yeah, Station Pier in Port Melbourne. And so that will be a highlight for me. So, welcome, Shin, you are a very, very honoured guest.

JAPAN’S MINISTER OF DEFENSE, KOIZUMI SHINJIRO: Well thank you very much for hosting me in your hometown, hometown means a lot to everyone and I feel very glad that and pleased that I was [indistinct].

And I would like to express my sympathy to the major fire in Geelong oil refineries. And particularly now, as the unstable supply of energy due to the Strait in the Middle East, and I sincerely pray for a quick recovery. I am delighted to add one of the important pieces to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Basic Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation between Japan and Australia through this visit and I am glad that we are doing this together. And you mentioned that this is our third meeting this year alone, but it's only April and it's been already four months since this year started. So, this high frequency of meetings demonstrate our close relations more than anything. When I hosted you in Tokyo last week, we confirmed the necessity to make the close Japan-Australia cooperation based on the strong relationship between us function as strong deterrence capabilities amid the severe security environment with growing uncertainty.

And Australia's new National Defence Strategy was released the day before yesterday and which maintains the strategic alliance between Japan and Australia concerning the recognition of security, in Parliament, and a selection of [indistinct] of defence cooperation – and today, Mogami. And I express my sincere gratitude and respect for the dedicated efforts made by the numerous people involved up until today to make the achievements regarding Mogami. I can't imagine how much energy and time and those who are involved from the Australian side have put into this project and I'm very, very proud of everyone who is involved in this project. Building on this momentum, I look forward to today's discussion with you, Richard under the FSDC to bring Japan closer relations to Australia to greater heights. Thank you.