A new agenda for bilateral cooperation

Australia and France share an enduring partnership forged through a century of common purpose and sacrifice.

This roadmap establishes a new and ambitious chapter in our bilateral relationship.

Its three pillars – Defence and Security; Resilience and Climate Action; Education and Culture – advance our national and international interests, with a specific focus on the South Pacific.

We recognise the strategic challenges that the Indo-Pacific is facing, and we are using our partnership to advance regional peace, stability, and prosperity. We promote an international order based on the rule of law and agreed norms.

Climate action, domestically and internationally, is a priority. We are working more closely together to support a just and clean energy transition and adaptation in both countries and with our partners in the Indo-Pacific.

Culture and people are central to our identities. We are boosting opportunities for educational and research collaboration, and cultural understanding, to strengthen our people-to-people links.

The roadmap is a 'living' document. Regular reviews will ensure it remains fit-for-purpose, with new activities to match emerging interests.

Australia-France Centre of Excellence for the Indo-Pacific

The Australia-France Centre of Excellence for the Indo-Pacific recognises the growing global importance of this region and Australia and France's mutual interest in addressing some of the challenges it faces. It will encompass three distinct programs with potential for future expansion:

The Australia-France Indo-Pacific Studies Program will strengthen institutional linkages and enable joint projects on priority strategic challenges, making ties between Australia and France deeper, broader, and more durable. As a policy think tank, the Indo-Pacific Studies Program will support the development of long-term thinking, contribute to public debate, and foster new policy networks. It will provide opportunities for academic exchange, projects, and public outreach on the Indo-Pacific strategic and economic environment and non-traditional security issues, including through Track 1.5 and Track 2 dialogues. The program will deliver insights with tangible value for Australian and French policymakers, scholars, and the public. Under its auspices, we will drive effective collaboration between Australian and French experts and institutions through a visiting fellows program. The program will be embedded in a larger institution in Australia, with a dedicated online presence to facilitate public access.

The Australia-France Energy Transition Program will strengthen cooperation between Australian and French stakeholders on energy transition. This program will bring together leading Australian and French institutions, researchers, companies, and other industry experts to pool knowledge and share it throughout the Indo-Pacific. The program will also support joint proposals from Australian, French, and wider Indo-Pacific universities and research and technology institutions to collaborate on energy transition. The program will also support SMEs and start-ups' industrial projects.

The Australia-France Pacific Shared Knowledge Initiative will strengthen academic and research cooperation between Australia and France to promote greater shared understanding of Pacific issues and build understanding of the main challenges of the region, including climate change and environmental issues. It will promote academic and research collaboration in the Pacific and contribute to coordinating research on areas of interest that meet Pacific needs.

The Australia-France Indo-Pacific Studies Program, the Australia-France Energy Transition Program, and the Australia France Pacific Shared Knowledge Initiative will all support the growth of practical policy expertise.

Partnerships for climate and resilience in the Pacific

Australia and France are engaging at Ministerial level to enhance our cooperation in the Pacific on climate and environment, including through our work with other Pacific nations. This engagement is looking at ways to address climate change and support sustainable use, management, and conservation of land, forest and ocean resources in alignment with Pacific priorities.

Australia and France will deepen engagement with Papua New Guinea's forests sector and relevant climate and environment agencies. We will cooperate to help Papua New Guinea promote the sustainable management of its tropical rainforests, an important carbon sink for the world, and identify opportunities to attract international climate finance. We will also work to help strengthen Papua New Guinea's carbon market systems.

A letter of intent between the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Agence Française de Développement (AFD) will expand operational collaboration and coordination on issues of climate, resilience, disaster risk reduction, and disaster risk management in the Pacific region. It will focus on:

• improving information-sharing to ensure efficient and effective coordination and exchange of expertise and knowledge across climate, resilience, and disaster risk management;
• strengthening collaboration through the Kiwa Initiative and coordination on climate-biodiversity and ocean programs, for example through the International Partnership for Blue Carbon, including those with a gender focus;
• parallel financing strategic programs and projects, including via the Australian Infrastructure Financing Facility for the Pacific, in line with the 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent. We are seeking to elevate programs and projects that i) promote energy transition; ii) strengthen the climate and disaster resilience of ecosystems, populations, and infrastructures; iii) support sustainable and competitive maritime sectors.

To further support our engagement in the Pacific, Australia and France will also commit to holding a 2+2 Ministerial level meeting on climate and the environment covering topics of importance to the region.

In addition, our respective Ministries for agriculture will identify potential areas of cooperation to achieve healthy, climate-resilient, and sustainable agriculture and food systems.

We will continue to support Pacific island countries and territories to help reduce the negative impacts of climate change on food systems, conserve the region's genetic resources and ensure Pacific communities have access to diverse, nutritious traditional local food and crops and sustainable livelihoods.

We will build on our close and effective coordination in the field of humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, including through the France, Australia, and New Zealand (FRANZ) arrangement which celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2022. Together, we will support the Pacific Humanitarian Warehousing Program to improve disaster preparedness and response capacities, through the creation of pre-positioned humanitarian stockpiles in Pacific island countries. Within the FRANZ mechanism, we will also seek enhanced cooperation on the deployment of emergency health response capabilities.

Cooperation on critical minerals

Australia and France are engaged in a Critical Minerals Strategic Dialogue that will contribute to mutual economic security and prosperity for Australia and France through stable, secure, transparent, and resilient critical minerals supply chains.

The Dialogue will enable exchange of information regarding policy and market developments in each country and provide a mechanism to collaborate on tangible outcomes such as:

• facilitate joint Australian and French government-supported projects on critical minerals value chain opportunity mapping, either between Australian and French companies or related to research and development activities of domestic science agencies;
• facilitate investments and access to off-take agreements for French and Australian investors from the mining and industry sectors;
• foster common positions in regional and international fora regarding the critical minerals sector, including establishing, recognising, and implementing high quality environmental, social, and governance  frameworks to promote sustainable mining standards.

Enhanced defence access, interoperability, and information exchange

France and Australia are advancing defence cooperation by enhancing reciprocal access to military facilities leveraging existing legal frameworks.

Enhanced French access to Australian defence facilities will elevate cooperation to a higher level. Enhanced Australian access to French defence facilities in the Pacific and Indian Oceans will facilitate a more sustained Australian presence in priority areas of operation.

We are deepening military interoperability through more complex joint activities. We are increasing dialogues, strategic exchanges, and intelligence sharing to strengthen our mutual understanding and enhance cooperation in response to our shared strategic challenges.

Defence industry cooperation

Australia and France are increasing mutually beneficial defence industry cooperation through a program of dialogues, exchanges, and joint initiatives to foster increased collaboration between our respective defence industries. This includes activities under the Declaration of Intent to cooperate in the military space domain and the joint delivery of 155mm ammunition to Ukraine.

Cultural cooperation 

Australia and France will strengthen two-way people-to-people links through a French Australian Cultural Exchange Foundation in Australia and an Australian Cultural Initiative in France.

The Cultural Foundation and the Cultural Initiative will develop the ties between arts and culture institutions, notably through artistic residence programs in Australia and France. They will further encompass regional cooperation with Pacific countries and territories.

The Cultural Foundation and Cultural Initiative will expand opportunities for cultural exchange and understanding. Both sides will collaborate to promote cultural activities and where appropriate encourage co-commissions, co-curations, co-productions, and information sharing.

Our shared history 

In consultation with Tasmania's Aboriginal community, an historical initiative will digitise, transcribe, translate, and raise awareness about the archives of the d'Entrecasteaux exploration in Tasmania at the end of the 18th century.

Subject to the agreement of First Nations communities, the Australian and French governments may seek to jointly list the exploration registers held at the National Archives in Paris and other heritage institutions in France and Australia on the UNESCO Memory of the World register.

A separate program of work is progressing the repatriation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ancestral remains that are currently in France. A joint committee of French and Australian scientific experts responsible for identifying and verifying the provenance and origin of presumed Australian ancestral remains from the 18th to the first half of the 20th centuries held in French public collections is pivotal to this work. It will oversee joint non-invasive and scientific research, as well as activities in both countries.

France and Australia will also work to enhance knowledge exchange on cultural diversity in the Indo-Pacific region, including Australian First Nations peoples and culture.

Cooperation in Antarctica and the Southern Ocean

A High-Level Polar Dialogue will identify ongoing opportunities for collaboration on Antarctic matters, including strengthening the Antarctic Treaty system, scientific research activities, efforts for the preservation of Antarctic environmental, cultural, and scientific exchanges, the development of technical capabilities, sharing of assets and facilities, exploring infrastructure upgrades, and other activities.

We seek to enhance Antarctic climate research to improve global understanding of climate change and of the ecosystem and fish populations in the Australian and French EEZs on the Kerguelen Plateau. Through this engagement and cooperation, we will strengthen the work of the Commission on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR).

Australia and France will award an annual Hawke-Rocard Medal for Outstanding Achievement in Protecting the Antarctic Environment and support a joint grant to sponsor an annual research project on Antarctica.

As founders of the Antarctic Treaty's 1991 Environmental Protocol, this award will reinforce Australia's and France's leadership on Antarctic matters.

Space cooperation 

France and Australia will continue to cooperate on space and earth observation activities, by developing and enhancing partnerships, including through relevant specialised institutions.

In the field of climate change, Australia is continuing its support for joint activities, including initiatives of the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites that help make progress in the implementation of the Paris Agreement.

In the field of sustainable use of space, Australia and France will explore ways to strengthen discussions bilaterally and in relevant multilateral fora, including to prevent the proliferation of debris in space. We will discuss opportunities in relation to space situational awareness.

We will also explore new commercial opportunities between the French and Australian space sectors, including new space actors.

Sports partnership

We are fostering bilateral cooperation between sporting institutions in Australia and France.

Following the declaration of intent in the field of sport signed on 21 September 2023, a new sports partnership will share mutual expertise in hosting major sporting events, including expertise of French and Australian companies in, but not limited to, infrastructure, durability, security, transport, and events industries. These exchanges come in the context of France's hosting of the Rugby World Cup in 2023 and of the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2024 and Australia's hosting of the same competitions in 2027 and in 2032.

We are promoting sport as a vehicle for social development and inclusion, with a focus on gender equality, health, empowerment of persons with disabilities and sustainable development.

*The French version of this document is available in the download documents at the top of this page.