Strategic Dialogue talks in Canberra

With all the trouble spots flaring up around the world at the moment, our annual Strategic Dialogue talks with DFAT could not have been more timely. FCO Director General Sir Julian King was in town together with his Ministry of Defence counterpart Peter Watkins for an intensive series of meetings.

They discussed developments in the Middle East, Ukraine and Asia, as well as the vexed challenge of foreign fighters heading off to join distant conflicts. Both our countries have raised our level of security alert in the last couple of weeks, and police here made a series of anti-terrorist raids in Sydney and Brisbane yesterday. We identified many areas for even closer collaboration, including an Australian announcement that it would contribute $2m to the Ebola field hospital Britain is constructing in Sierra Leone.

Alongside the foreign policy talks, we held separate economic discussions covering trade policy, Australia’s new Economic Diplomacy initiative and G20. Australia reported that it was making good progress on its bilateral Free Trade Agreements with North East Asia partners. Once these are concluded, there will no doubt be interest in broaching discussions with the EU. As Australia’s leading trade and investment partner in Europe, we would be very interested in that.

Sir Julian also spent a day in Sydney to see the work of our UKTI and consular teams, and to meet business representatives to discuss the opportunities for business collaboration in Asia Pacific.

On Tuesday I also hosted our annual Battle of Britain Day reception at the High Commission. My Assistant Defence Adviser, Wing Commander Tony Bull, gave a stirring speech about air power. But for me the most enjoyable part of the evening was meeting British and Australian veterans who had served with the RAF. Sadly, local resident 92 year old Eric Lock, who actually served in the Battle of Britain, was not able to attend on the night.