SENATOR JOHN FAULKNER
Minister for Defence
Tuesday, 28 July 2009
011/2009
MINISTER FOR DEFENCE MEETS WITH SINGAPORE DEPUTY
PRIME MINISTER
The Minister for Defence, Senator John Faulkner returned from Singapore
today after attending the 6th Singapore Australia Joint Ministerial Conference
(SAJMC) and holding talks with his Singapore counterpart, Deputy Prime
Minister and Minister for Defence, Mr Teo Chee Hean.
The SAJMC, hosted by the Singapore Government, was also attended by
Minister for Foreign Affairs, Stephen Smith, Minister for Trade, Simon Crean,
and Singapore’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, George Yeo, and Minister for
Trade, Lim Hng Kiang.
During the talks Senator Faulkner took the opportunity to thank Deputy Prime
Minister Teo for Singapore’s support of Australian operations in Afghanistan.
Singapore recently completed two three-month deployments of a 20-person
medical detachment to Tarin Kowt in Oruzgan Province.
“Deputy Prime Minister Teo and I had the opportunity to compare
perspectives on regional security and discuss international operations and
multilateral peace and security initiatives, including anti-piracy and regional
maritime security,” Senator Faulkner said.
“Singapore is a key partner in Southeast Asia,
“Australia is working closely with Singapore to see how we can assist each
other.” Senator Faulkner said.
The Joint Communiqué from yesterday’s meeting is available at:
The transcript from yesterday’s joint ministerial press conference which
followed the formal talks is available at:
Media contacts:
Colin Campbell (John Faulkner):
02 6277 7800 or 0407 787 181
Defence Media Liaison:
02 6265 3343 or 0408 498 664
NEWS 
