Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo and Defense Secretary James N. Mattis hosted Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop and Defense Minister Marise Payne July 23-24 for the annual Australia-U.S. Ministerial Consultations at Stanford University's Hoover Institution in Palo Alto, California.
Holding the meeting near the birthplace of the Australia, New Zealand and United States Security Treaty was a fitting affirmation of the vitality of the alliance and the significance of the Indo-Pacific region to the two nations' shared future, state department officials announced today in a joint U.S.-Australian statement following the meeting.
As President Donald J. Trump and Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull declared when they met at the White House in February, officials said, “the U.S.-Australia alliance is steadfast and enduring, and underpinned by a deep alignment of mutual interests and shared values.”
This year marks a century since U.S. and Australian forces first fought side by side at the Battle of Hamel in northern France in 1918, officials noted. “From the battlefields of Europe to this contested century, there are no greater friends than Australia and the United States,” the officials said.
Indo-Pacific Region
The secretaries and ministers emphasized both nations' strong and deepening engagement in the Indo-Pacific…
