The Foreign Affairs Committee in Australia: Democratic forces must stick together

Meetings in Australia confirmed that, despite the distance between the countries, security challenges are similar, and learning from each other provides an opportunity to deal with them more effectively. According to Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee Marko Mihkelson, the Committee’s visit showed that there is more potential for development in the relations between Estonia and Australia than has been realised so far. “Hopefully, the free trade agreement between the European Union and Australia, towards which significant efforts have been made recently, will help to realise this” he said.

Mihkelson underlined that the meetings had provided an opportunity to present Estonia’s positions and discuss security issues important to Estonia more broadly. “Australia’s main security focus is on the Pacific Ocean and the balancing of relations with China. We highlighted during the meetings that in order to restore peace in Europe and maintain stability in the Indian and Pacific regions, it is necessary to help Ukraine defeat its aggressor,” he said, and added that Australia was a country with a very similar mentality to Estonia and the majority of its population supported providing greater military assistance to Ukraine.

The delegation of the Foreign Affairs Committee, which consisted of the Chairman Marko Mihkelson, and members of the Committee Henn Põlluaas and Juku-Kalle Raid, had meetings with the representatives of the Parliament, the Government and the think tanks. In the capital Canberra, they met with the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee of the Parliament of Australia, Chair of the Australia-Estonia Parliamentary Friendship Group and several deputies, as well as with the representatives of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and with Chief of Army Lieutenant General Simon Stuart. Mihkelson also had a separate meeting with Andrew Shearer, Director General of the Office of National Intelligence.

The representatives of the Riigikogu participated in several roundtable discussions, including debates at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute and the Centre for European Studies of the Australian National University. The Chairman of the Committee spoke at the security conference organised by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation and gave a guest lecture at the Australian Institute of International Affairs. The delegation of the Foreign Affairs Committee also met with members of the Ukrainian community of New South Wales, and visited the Estonian House in Sydney, where they met with local Estonians.

Before travelling to Australia, the delegation of the Foreign Affairs Committee visited New Zealand. Delegations of the committees of the Riigikogu have not visited these countries before. The visit of the Foreign Affairs Committee took place from 21 October to 3 November.

For more information and comments, please contact:
Marko Mihkelson, +372 514 1442

Riigikogu Press Service
Karin Kangro
+372 631 6356, +372 520 0323
karin.kangro@riigikogu.ee
Questions: press@riigikogu.ee

Link uudisele: The Foreign Affairs Committee in Australia: Democratic forces must stick together

Source: Parliament of Estonia