Outcomes

The 20th Ministerial Consultations between Australia and the European Commission held in Brussels on 18 May 2004 focused on a range of bilateral and international issues and underlined the strength of the mutual cooperation.

The Commission was represented by Commissioners Chris Patten, Poul Nielson and Danuta Hübner and the Australia n government was represented by Minister for Foreign Affairs Alexander Downer

The consultations identified priorities for the future as follows:

• increased exchanges on security and strategic issues including counter-terrorism;
• deeper dialogue on development cooperation especially in the Pacific;
• strengthening links on education and science and technology;
• closer cooperation on environmental issues including bilateral climate change projects;
• pursuing common interests in civil aviation and continued cooperation on the Galileo Satellite System;
• Continued cooperation to improve the international trade environment especially with regard to developing countries;
• Continued dialogue on migration and asylum.

Contact: John Tuckwell, Senior Adviser, Economics and Trade
Delegation of the European Commission to Australia and New Zealand
Tel: 02 6271 2734

this page updated August 17, 2006