CANBERRA, March 8 (Xinhua) -- The Australia government has on Wednesday welcomed Singapore's Minister for Home Affairs and Law to the country ahead of bilateral talks on "a range of law, justice and security issues".
In a statement released on Wednesday, Australia's Attorney-General George Brandis said Mr. K. Shanmugam would engage with the Australian government on a number of key issues, including counter-terrorism and border protection.
"We look forward to hosting Mr. Shanmugam over the coming days and exchanging our views and experiences in countering terrorism and violent extremism, border protection, law enforcement and crisis management," Brandis said.
"Discussions will focus on the complex and evolving threat environment in our region, including the shared challenge posed by returning foreign fighters. We will look for further opportunities to deepen collaboration between our law enforcement and security agencies."
Brandis said while Singapore is Chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Australia would host a "special summit" in March 2018, aimed at bringing all 10 ASEAN leaders to Australia to discuss counter-terrorism.
He said Shanmugam's visit was the perfect opportunity to lay out the framework for that summit.
"A Counter-Terrorism Conference will be a major component to the summit, underscoring our global leadership and collective regional action to combat terrorism," Brandis said.
Shanmugam's visit comes less than six months after Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong visited Australia in October. At the time, the two nations signed a billion-dollar defence deal which will result in 14,000 Singaporean troops training in Queensland for 18 weeks a year.
