Deputy Assistant Secretary Matt Matthews on Secretary Tillerson's Trip to Australia and New Zealand: MR. MATTHEWS: Thank you. So good afternoon to everybody and thanks for joining the call. We’re looking forward to engagements by the Secretary with one of our closest,most capable partners in Australia on June 5th, followed by meetings with our longstanding partner New Zealand on June 6th.
In Australia, or as the spokesperson just said,Secretary Tillerson will be joining Defense Secretary Mattis for AUSMIN. That’s our annual ministerial assembly. And this ministerial assembly brings us together with Foreign Minister Bishop and Defense Minister Payne. We’ve been doing these meetings regularly since 1985. It’s basically a chance to sit down and coordinate on how we are addressing critical challenges in our relationships regionally and globally. From pushing back to North Koreas reckless behavior to engaging China and encouraging it to play a more constructive role in the Asia Pacific and to our efforts to defeat ISIS, we are working closely with Australia to promote peace and stability around the globe.
We’ll make certain that these efforts are synced up in AUSMIN and find new ways that we can work together effectively. We’ll also discuss joint training and improved interoperability of our militaries to increase their effectiveness.
The Secretary, and after that,will be traveling to New Zealand on the 6th, where he will meet with Prime Minister English and Foreign Minister Brownlee. This will be the Secretary’s first time assembly both of these leaders. New Zealand is a crucial friend and partner to the United States, and helping us to tackle international security challenges,push boundaries on scientific understanding, and promoting democracy, and commerce,and economic growth in the Asia Pacific Region.
So this visit is really an opportunity to fill face-to-face discussions on how to jointly address urgent regional and global issues.
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