Outcomes from White House meetings
20 September 2019
Prime Minister
The United States and Australia agreed to develop a new mechanism to strengthen and align coordination of their Indo-Pacific strategies.
The U.S. Trade and Development Agency and the Australia Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade will sign a Memorandum of Cooperation to further support infrastructure development in the Indo-Pacific Region, with a new focus on the Pacific Island Countries
In recognizing over 60 years of successful cooperation between the United States and Australia in space, and the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon Landing, the Australian Space Agency will sign a Joint Statement of Intent in support of NASA’s plans to return to the Moon by 2024, through the Artemis program, and onto Mars, and to expand collaboration in areas of mutual interest such as robotics, automation, and remote medicine including through industry-industry collaboration and research solutions.
The United States and Australia agreed to hold high-level discussions in Washington, DC in November, and to develop a US-Australia Critical Minerals Action Plan that will:
Improve the security and supply of rare earths and other critical minerals in the United States and Australia;
Increase U.S.-Australia interconnectivity throughout the supply chain of critical minerals;
Leverage the interest of other like-minded partners to improve the health of the global critical minerals supply chain.
To enhance cooperation between the world-class scientific communities in the United States and Australia, President Trump and Prime Minister Morrison agreed to hold a joint senior-level dialogue on advancing frontier technologies, supported by the existing U.S.—Australia Joint Commission Meeting (JCM) on Science and Technology.
The United States and Australia agreed to work together to support the G20 Implementation Framework on marine plastic debris and the Osaka Blue Ocean Vision by supporting efforts in large source countries on improved waste management, recycling, and innovation
Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Australia’s national science agency, is deepening its U.S. collaboration on lithium-ion recycling by joining the U.S. Department of Energy-funded ReCell Center’s Industrial Advisory Council.
Australia will join the United States Hydrogen Safety Center. As part of this Australia will send emergency services personnel to work with the United States in better developing best practices in hydrogen safety.
The National Science Foundation will send a MULTIPLIER (MULTIPlying Impact Leveraging International Expertise in Research Missions) delegation of subject matter experts to Australia. They will engage with Australia’s scientific, engineering, and education communities to identify follow-on research activities in areas of mutual and strategic interest.
