Australia Strongly Supports ASEAN Outlook On Indo-Pacific -- FM Payne

By Rosmalis Anuar KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 6 (Bernama) -- Australia emphasised its strong support towards the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific (AOIP) and its aspiration for an open, secure, resilient and prosperous region that has ASEAN as its centre. Visiting Australian Foreign Minister Senator Marise Payne said Australia will continue to work with Malaysia and all its partners to realise that vision. “I'm very focused on making sure that the work of the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific is something with which Australia is closely associated with and closely supporting to make sure that we are working together in all of these endeavours,” she told a joint press conference with her Malaysian counterpart Saifuddin Abdullah, here, Saturday. Earlier, Payne and Saifuddin had co-chaired the fourth Malaysia-Australia Annual Foreign Ministers’ Meeting (AFMM), which was the first after the Prime Ministers of Malaysia and Australia launched the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership (CSP) on Jan 27, 2021. Elaborating further, Payne said as maritime nations, Malaysia and Australia have a shared interest in maritime security in the Indo-Pacific, where both countries wanted to be sure that openness and freedom are the hallmarks of the region. She said that that interest is well exemplified in the Five Power Defence Arrangements (FPDA) which was established in 1971 by Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. “For 50 years now, we have worked together in the pursuit of security and stability between not just our nations, but the other three members of the FPDA. “We have a very significant defence cooperation programme which also adds to our work together that enables us to create a familiarity of work between the Malaysian defence force and the Australian defence force. It enables us to create a degree of ease in terms of how the two organisations work together,” she said. Meanwhile, Saifuddin emphasised that both countries need to collaborate more to mitigate maritime security issues, which is also one of the three main pillars of the CSP framework, namely economic prosperity, society and technology as well as defence cooperation and regional security. “I think there have been some collaborations between Australia and Malaysia, particularly with the Maritime Institute, but I also offered our (Foreign Ministry’s) maritime division to also be part of that collaboration,” he said. On COVID-19, Saifuddin said both countries have agreed to collaborate in expanding the development of vaccine via access to relevant technology and knowledge and expanding public health capacity. He said both ministers also discussed and exchange views on mental health and the possibility of cooperation in the area of women empowerment in many parts of the world, including in the Southeast Asian region, and also in Afghanistan. “We didn't agree about anything but we agreed that we need to find ways (on) how we can help our Afghanistan brothers and sisters,” he said. Saifuddin said both ministers had also discussed the situation in Myanmar and efforts to assist the Rohingya refugees who are here in Malaysia. He also noted Australia’s support on the Five-point Consensus achieved by the ASEAN leaders in trying to address the issues pertaining to the situation in Myanmar. Payne is on a three-day working visit to Malaysia from Friday until Nov 7. During the visit, she is also scheduled to hold meetings with Senior Minister of Defence Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein and Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin. -- BERNAMA