Australia-EU Seventh Joint Committee Meeting – Joint Press Statement

Australia-EU Seventh Joint Committee Meeting - Joint Press Statement

The 7th EU-Australia Joint Committee was held in Canberra on 16 September 2025. The annual meeting provides overall coordination of EU-Australia cooperation under the 2022 Framework Agreement.

Following leaders' engagement on 17 June 2025, the EU and Australia welcomed the accelerating momentum in the bilateral relationship and opportunities for further progress on priority areas of cooperation, including security and defence, trade and economic ties, research and innovation, digital matters, critical minerals, renewable energy, and the green transition.

Acknowledging that the security, resilience and prosperity of the Indo-Pacific and Euro-Atlantic regions are interconnected, the EU and Australia reaffirmed their commitment to strengthen cooperation on global security and economic challenges, based on shared strategic interests and common values.

They noted the alignment of interests and coordination of responses between the EU and Australia on regional issues of mutual interest, notably responses to Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine and ensuring a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific. They committed to work together in upholding stable global governance through the rules-based multilateral system and the rule of law.

They reaffirmed the critical importance of the rules-based global trading system, with the World Trade Organization at its core, for stability, predictability, economic security and prosperity, and agreed to strengthen cooperation on deep reforms to the Organization to meet current trade challenges. The EU and Australia recognised the vital role of economic security and prosperity, especially in the current geopolitical context.

In the lead up to COP30, the EU and Australia agreed to deepen cooperation to address climate change, including by supporting initiatives to accelerate the global clean energy transition.

They agreed to continue working together on sustainable development, notably in the Pacific, and reaffirmed exchanges and coordination on global humanitarian assistance and disaster relief actions. The meeting was co-chaired by Christian Hirst, First Assistant Secretary, Europe Division, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Australia and Paola Pampaloni, Acting Managing Director for Asia and the Pacific, European External Action Service.

The EU and Australia agreed to hold the 8th Joint Committee Meeting in Brussels in 2026.