Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and his Lao counterpart Sonexay Siphandone signed an agreement on upgrading their bilateral relations to a comprehensive partnership in Melbourne on March 6 on the occasion of the ASEAN - Australia Special Summit.
Lao Prime Minister Sonexay Siphandone (centre) giving an address to the Leaders' Plenary during the ASEAN-Australia Special Summit in Melbourne, on March 6 (Photo: AP)
Melbourne (VNA) - Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and hisLao counterpart Sonexay Siphandone signed an agreement on upgrading theirbilateral relations to a comprehensive partnership in Melbourne on March6 on the occasion of the ASEAN - Australia Special Summit.
The partnership is expected to drivebilateral cooperation across four pillars, reflecting the two countries’ sharedpriorities for the future: people, education and human resource development; economics,trade and investment; climate, environment and energy; and defence and lawenforcement.
Australia’s Southeast Asia EconomicStrategy to 2040 identified agriculture and food, resources and green energy askey areas of opportunity for Australian business in Laos. The comprehensive partnershipwill also support Laos to maximise sustainable development in these sectors.
Prime Minister Albanese also announced thatAustralia has committed 3 million AUD (1.95 million USD) to Monash University’sWorld Mosquito Programme to assist in the elimination of dengue fever in Laos.The programme will fund research and allow Australia to share world-class knowledgeand resources to manage the spread of this disease in the Southeast Asiancountry.
Earlier, PM Albanese also had a bilateral meetingwith Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu'izzaddinWaddaulah.
The leaders welcomed the excellent state ofthe bilateral relationship following the historic elevation to a comprehensivepartnership in June 2023, and acknowledged their countries’ shared interests incontributing to economic prosperity and regional stability for the benefit oftheir people.
They reiterated the importance ofdeveloping a joint plan of action to implement the comprehensive partnership,as well as their commitment to promoting a region that is stable, peaceful,prosperous, secure and resilient, and underpinned by international law,including the United Nations Charter and the 1982 UN Convention on the Law ofthe Sea (UNCLOS), sovereignty, open markets and the rules-based internationalorder.
They also reaffirmed their commitment toASEAN Centrality, and the ASEAN-led regional architecture and welcomed theimplementation of the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific through concreteprojects and activities./.
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Lao Prime Minister Sonexay Siphandone (centre) giving an address to the Leaders' Plenary during the ASEAN-Australia Special Summit in Melbourne, on March 6 (Photo: AP) 
