Australia-Japan-United States Trilateral Leaders Meeting Joint Media Release

Prime Minister Tony Abbott of Australia, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan, and President Barack Obama of the United States met in Brisbane, Australia on 16 November 2014 in the margins of the G20 Leaders’ Summit.

The leaders expressed their commitment to deepening the trilateral partnership among Australia, Japan and the United States to ensure a peaceful, stable, and prosperous future for the Asia-Pacific region. They noted that this partnership rests on the unshakable foundation of shared interests and values, including a commitment to democracy and open economies, the rule of law, and the peaceful resolution of disputes.

The three leaders reaffirmed the global reach of their cooperation and the value of comprehensive US engagement in the Asia-Pacific region. They resolved to tackle pressing issues such as: degrading and ultimately defeating the threat of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and countering the threat posed by foreign terrorist fighters; ending the deadly Ebola virus disease epidemic in West Africa; and opposing Russia’s purported annexation of Crimea and its actions to destabilize eastern Ukraine, and bringing to justice those responsible for the downing of Flight MH17. The three leaders also underscored the strength of their regional cooperation, including eliminating the North Korean nuclear and missile threat; addressing human rights in North Korea including the abductions issue; and ensuring freedom of navigation and over-flight and the peaceful resolution of maritime disputes in accordance with international law, including through legal mechanisms such as arbitration.

The leaders expressed their firm commitment to deepen the already strong security and defense cooperation among the three countries and to strengthen the collective ability to address global concerns and promote regional stability through enhanced cooperation on: trilateral exercises; maritime security capacity building and maritime domain awareness; peacekeeping capacity building, particularly in the area of prevention of violence against women; increasing development assistance coordination throughout the region; humanitarian assistance and disaster relief; cyber capacity building; and defense equipment and technology. They welcomed work being done to this end and directed their governments to expand trilateral cooperation in all of these areas.

The leaders resolved to continue to work together and with our partners in the region to promote strong sustainable growth and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific, including through cooperation in the G20, APEC, EAS and other regional forums to promote sustainable, inclusive, and resilient growth and prosperity, free trade and investment, including in infrastructure development and energy efficiency.