Australia – Catherine Colonna’s visit to Australia (4-5 December 2023)

Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Catherine Colonna will visit Australia on December 4 and 5. Following on from ministerial consultations held in the 2+2 format on January 30, and ahead of the 80th anniversary of the establishment of our diplomatic relations, this visit represents an important step toward rebuilding the French-Australian partnership.

In Canberra, the minister and her Australian counterpart, Penny Wong, will adopt a bilateral road map based on the three pillars announced by President Macron and the Australian Prime Minister in the joint statement they issued in Paris on July 1, 2022: defense and security, resilience and climate action, and education and culture.
At the National Press Club of Australia, the minister will elaborate upon the “Pacific” aspect of the Indo-Pacific strategy presented by President Macron in the speech he gave in Port Vila, Vanuatu, on July 27. She will present the ambitions we have for our partnership with Australia in the region.

She will also have a meeting with representatives of the National Archives of Australia, the National Library of Australia, and the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies on the subject of records relating to the d’Entrecasteaux expedition (1791-1794), which are held at the National Archives of Australia.

In Melbourne, the minister will inaugurate two flagship projects that are part of the French-Australian road map. The first of these two projects, at Swinburne University of Technology, relates to the energy transition, and the second one, at the National Gallery of Victoria, is cultural in nature.