New centre to strengthen Australian ties with Southeast Asia: FM Penny Wong

Canberra, Nov 28 (IANS) Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong has launched the ASEAN-Australia Centre in the nation's capital.

Wong and Kao Kim Hourn, secretary-general of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), officially launched the new centre at an event in Parliament House in Canberra on Wednesday night, Xinhua news agency reported.

Wong said in a statement on Wednesday night that the centre would build on the government's work to deepen Australia's engagement with Southeast Asia, with a focus on increasing business, education, cultural and community connections with the region.

She said its key initiatives would include an emerging leaders program to support the brightest minds from the region, connecting teachers and students in Australia, Southeast Asia and Timor-Leste and boosting the business and creative ventures of Australian and Southeast Asian women.

Wong also announced that a world-first exhibition of Indigenous Australian art will tour Southeast Asia in 2025 under a partnership between the ASEAN-Australia Centre and the National Museum of Australia.

The centre was announced by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at the ASEAN-Australia Special Summit in Melbourne in March. Albanese said that it would act as a focal point for driving greater Southeast Asia literacy in Australia.

The centre will support the ASEAN-Australia comprehensive strategic partnership and implement the recommendations of Australia's Southeast Asia Economic Strategy to 2040.

The strategy, which was launched by the government in 2023, made 75 recommendations to significantly increase two-way trade and investment between Australia and Southeast Asia.

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