Southeast Asia
The Government is committed to a coordinated whole-of-nation effort to advance Australia's interests in Southeast Asia.
To help achieve this, the Government has established a new Southeast Asia-Australia Government-to-Government Partnerships program (SEAG2G).
SEAG2G is enabling Australian federal and state government agencies to deepen and sustain partnerships with counterparts in Southeast Asia; sharing knowledge and building policy and technical capabilities to respond to social and economic development priorities in the region.
The program has a five-year Official Development Assistance (ODA) funding commitment of $50 million over 2024–2028. Eligible countries include Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Timor-Leste and Vietnam. Some support can be provided to the ASEAN Secretariat.
Thematic priorities
SEAG2G will support partnerships across four themes outlined below. These themes are focused where Australia can add value, are broad enough to allow a wide spectrum of Australian agencies to participate and flexible enough to respond to demands across the region. They have been chosen based on consultations in Australia and in Southeast Asia, and for their alignment to policy and strategic priorities in the region.
1. Climate change and energy transition:
Advancing climate action in the region by working with countries to meet ambitious emissions reduction targets, build clean and resilient energy sectors and strengthen climate adaptation and mitigation planning and response. This will deliver on the announcement made at the ASEAN-Australia Special Summit for a $10 million climate and clean energy window under the SEAG2G program.
2. Education and skills:
Partnering with countries on education and skills to grow workforce capability in sectors that drive economic growth, especially in digital and green skills and through transnational education links. Building capability in these areas aims to increase workforce productivity, resilience to shocks and promotion of workforce diversity and inclusion in new economic sectors.
3. Sustainable agriculture and food security:
Partnering with countries to strengthen agricultural systems, policies, and regulations, with flow-on effects for increasing two-way trade and investment, reducing emissions in the agricultural sector, and contributing to climate resilience.
4. Effective and inclusive public institutions:
Partnering with countries to promote effective and accountable government systems and institutions in other priority areas including sectors outlined in Invested: Australia's Southeast Asia Economic Strategy to 2040; institutions that contribute to promoting inclusive sustainable development and gender equality; and institutions with mandates to deliver core governance and economic functions.
A unique delivery approach
Australian agencies will jointly agree a workplan of activities with their Southeast Asian government counterparts. The types of activities offered could include: knowledge exchanges, short-term workplace attachments, applied training, benchmarking visits, policy dialogue, joint participation in conferences and sharing tools. Engagement between the partners will take place through two workstreams:
Workstream 1: The Core partners workstream provides multi-year support to a small group of Australian government agencies to work in one or more countries to deepen Australia's relationships with its counterparts and contribute to institutional change in one or more thematic priorities.
Workstream 2: The Country level workstream supports demand-driven, smaller activities based on requests, which are assessed and approved 1-2 times a year and delivered within a 12 to 18-month period.