JOINT STATEMENT FOR THE AUSTRALIA-BRUNEI DARUSSALAM BILATERAL MEETING DURING THE 2024 ASEAN-AUSTRALIA SPECIAL SUMMIT Tuesday, 5 March 2024 The Prime Minister of Australia, The Honourable Anthony Albanese MP, welcomed His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu'izzaddin Waddaulah, Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam, to Melbourne on the occasion of the ASEAN-Australia Special Summit to Commemorate the 50th Anniversary of ASEAN-Australia Dialogue Relations. The Leaders commemorated the 40th anniversary of Diplomatic Relations between Brunei Darussalam and Australia. Australia congratulated Brunei Darussalam for 40 years of the country's full resumption of independence celebrated in February 2024. Australia is proud to have been one of Brunei Darussalam's first diplomatic partners. The Leaders welcomed the excellent state of the bilateral relationship following the historic elevation to a Comprehensive Partnership in June 2023, and acknowledged their countries' shared interests in contributing to economic prosperity and regional stability for the benefit of their peoples. The Leaders reiterated the importance of developing a Joint Plan of Action to implement the Comprehensive Partnership. The Leaders reiterated their commitment to promoting a region that is stable, peaceful, prosperous, secure and resilient, and underpinned by international law, including the United Nations Charter and the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), sovereignty, open markets and the rules-based international order. Leaders reaffirmed their commitment to ASEAN Centrality, and the ASEAN-led regional architecture and welcomed the implementation of the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific through concrete projects and activities. - The Leaders committed to take the Australia-Brunei Darussalam partnership to new heights in promoting peace, stability and development in areas of mutual interest. This includes engaging on practical ways to bolster the cooperation identified in the Joint Declaration on a Comprehensive Partnership across economic relations, climate change particularly through the ASEAN Centre for Climate Change, food security, defence, security, maritime, people-to-people exchanges and social-cultural ties.
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