This week in Australian foreign affairs: Albanese to travel to the United States for the 2024 Quad Leaders’ Summit; joint statemnet on the third anniversary of AUKUS; Marles in Vanuatu; new sanctions on five Iranian individuals; new support to address priority health in the Pacific, and more.

On 13 September, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced he will travel to the United States for the 2024 Quad Leaders’ Summit, to be held on 21 September in Wilmington, Delaware. At the Summit, Albanese “will discuss regional issues and opportunities to further advance the Quad’s positive and practical agenda.” The Summit will be the fourth in-person Quad Leaders’ meeting, with India poised to lead as next year’s host.

Albanese joined the leaders of the United States (US) and United Kingdom (UK) in a joint statement celebrating the third anniversary of AUKUS. The statement reaffirmed the three nations’ shared “commitment to this historic partnership and acknowledge the considerable progress to date.” It also reinforced the purpose to “deliver Australia’s conventionally-armed, nuclear-powered submarine (SSN) capability, while setting the highest non-proliferation standard.” The statement also reaffirmed the partners’ commitment to “existing non-proliferation obligations and Australia’s safeguards agreements with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA),” making “non-proliferation commitments under AUKUS legally-binding between the partners.” On Pillar II, the partners agreed to uphold the pledge “to pursue information and technology sharing and unprecedented integration of our innovation communities, industrial bases, and warfighter capabilities in support of a shared goal to build the advanced capabilities needed to bolster deterrence in support of security and stability in the Indo-Pacific.” Toward this end, the partners “have implemented momentous amendments to our respective export control regimes, including reforms to the U.S. International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR),” the statement reads. “These critical reforms will facilitate billions of dollars in secure, license-free defense trade and maximize innovation across the full breadth of our defense collaboration and mutually strengthen our three defense industrial bases.”

On 18 September, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence Richard Marles announced he will travel to Vanuatu from 18-19. While there, Marles met with the Prime Minister Salwai Tabimasmas, Deputy Prime Minister Seremaiah Nawulu, Minister of Internal Affairs Andrew Napuat, Minister of Finance and Economic Management Johnny Koanapo, and Minister of Lands and Natural Resources Marco Rick Mahe. He also joined Prime Minister Salwai Tabimasmas to open the newly redeveloped Cook Barracks in Port Vila.

From Port Vila, Vanuatu on 19 September, Marles officially announced the opening of the newly redeveloped Cook Barracks. “The redeveloped Cook Barracks includes new engineer and vehicle workshops, accommodation and training facilities, a fire station, chapel, medical centre and upgrades to surrounding roads and essential services.” According to the statement, “the Vanuatu Police Force and Vanuatu Mobile Force will operate the upgraded facilities, which will support their growing operational capabilities and provide support to the community. Alongside the Tiroas Barracks upgrades in Espiritu Santo Province, delivered in March 2024, the Cook Barracks redevelopment has created hundreds of jobs and provided upskilling and training certification opportunities for the ni-Vanuatu community.”

Minister for Foreign Affairs Penny Wong released a statement on 16 September announcing new “targeted financial sanctions and travel bans on an additional five Iranian individuals.” This comes on the second anniversary of the incarceration and tragic death of Mahsa Jina Amini in Iran. The individuals sanctioned “include senior security and law enforcement officials who have been complicit in the violent repression of protests in Iran.” The Albanese Government “has now sanctioned 195 Iran-linked individuals and entities across multiple sanctions frameworks, including almost 100 individuals and entities linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.”

Wong joined the Secretary of State of the United States and the Foreign Ministers of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom in a joint statement on 17 September on the anniversary of the death of Mahsa Zhina Amini. The statement calls “on the new Iranian administration to fulfil its pledge to ease pressure on civil society in Iran and to end the use of force to enforce the hijab requirement.” The statement further reads: “The recent surge in executions that have largely occurred without fair trials has been shocking, and we urge the Iranian government to cease its human rights violations now. We, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States, will continue to act in lockstep to hold the Iranian government accountable and will use all relevant national legal authorities to promote accountability for Iranian human rights violators, including through sanctions and visa restrictions.”

On 19 September, Wong and Minister for International Development and the Pacific Pat Conroy released a joint statement on expanded support to address priority health needs in the region. Through expanded partnerships between governments and civil society, the Government “will provide $15.9 million to the Pacific Community – the region’s principal scientific and technical organisation – to help strengthen the health workforce across the Pacific.” According to the statement, “the package also builds partnerships between Pacific and Southeast Asian organisations and their Australian counterparts, encouraging experts from across the region to share their technical skills and to develop exciting new links.” The package will include $9 million for “technical support to improve immunisation coverage across the region , drawing on the expertise of the National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance and the Australian Regional Immunisation Alliance”; support for “regional collaboration and partnerships through research on issues at the intersection of human, animal and environmental health, such as in food security and nutrition”; co-funding of “two collaborative Centres of Excellence with the National Health and Medical Research Council, that link Australian and regional health research institutions”; $3 million to help strengthen community preparation and response to epidemic disease; and $2.5 million for animal health workers across the Pacific and Timor-Leste to enhance regional biosecurity and better protect animal and human health.

On September 17, Minister for Trade and Tourism and Special Minister of State Don Farrell announced the conclusion of negotiations on the Australia-United Arab Emirates Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement. The “trade agreement provides a gateway for Australian exporters to diversify into the Middle East, a market of around 58 million consumers and a combined GDP of A$1.4 trillion.” According to the statement, “key Australian exports to the UAE include alumina, meat, dairy, oil seeds, seafood, steel, canola seeds, nuts, honey, coal, chickpeas, lentils and higher education.” In 2023, two-way investment between Australia and the UAE totalled $20.6 billion, with increases expected.

Dr Adam Bartley is the managing editor for AIIA’s Australian Outlook and weekly columnist for The Week in Australian Foreign Affairs. He is a former Fulbright Scholar and non-resident fellow at the Elliot School for International Affairs, the George Washington University. Adam also has positions as post-doctoral fellow at the Centre for Cyber Security Research and Innovation RMIT University  and as program manager of the AI Trilateral Experts Group. He can be found on Twitter here.

This article is published under a Creative Commons License and may be republished with attribution.