Minister For Defence Completes Successful Visit

The Minister for Defence, the Hon. Joel Fitzgibbon MP has returned from a highly productive visit to Canada, Spain, Portugal and the UK, where he met with a range of ministerial counterparts and senior officials to advance issues relating to Australias global and regional defence interests.>> Mr Fitzgibbon attended a meeting of defence ministers from those countries contributing troops to Southern Afghanistan. The ministers discussed the current situation in Afghanistan and ways that the civil-military coordination effort could be improved.>> Mr Fitzgibbon also had valuable one-on-one discussions with his counterparts from the UK, Canada and the Netherlands, as well as with US Defense Secretary Robert Gates.>> On a stopover in New York, while travelling from Canada to Spain, Mr Fitzgibbon took advantage of the opportunity to meet with Australias Ambassador to the United Nations, Robert Hill, to discuss what more Australia can do to assist in the resourcing and coordination efforts for the United Nations Special Envoy to Afghanistan, Kai Eide.>> Once in Spain, Mr Fitzgibbon met with the Spanish ministers for Defence and Foreign Affairs and discussed the future of our respective commitments and interests in Afghanistan, specifically the stabilisation and reconstruction of Afghanistan over the long-term.>> While in Spain, Mr Fitzgibbon saw first hand the progress of several major Australian acquisition projects based in Spain, such as the air warfare destroyer, new amphibious ships, and multi-role tanker transport, which will provide vital future capabilities for the Australian Defence Force (ADF).