Secretary Antony J. Blinken and Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong at the Signing of a Memorandum of Understanding on Countering Foreign State Information Manipulation and[...]

SECRETARY BLINKEN: Well, good afternoon, everyone. So good to see you all here, and especially good to have my friend and colleague, Foreign Minister Wong, here with us today. We have the very important AUSMIN discussions tomorrow with our two defense secretaries, but for today we have an opportunity to spend some time and go over the extraordinarily broad and deep agenda that joins Australia and the United States together.

Before I begin, though, a few words on the situation in the Middle East because it is a critical moment. We are engaged in intense diplomacy pretty much around the clock, with a very simple message: All parties must refrain from escalation. All parties must take steps to ease tensions. Escalation is not in anyone's interests. It will only lead to more conflict, more violence, more insecurity. It's also critical that we break this cycle by reaching a ceasefire in Gaza. That in turn will unlock possibilities for more enduring calm, not only in Gaza itself but in other areas where the conflict could spread.

So for the United States, for many other countries - both in the region and beyond - this is our focus. And what it comes down to, really, is all parties finding ways to come to an agreement, not look for reasons to delay or to say no. It is urgent that all parties make the right choices in the hours and days ahead.

Now, turning to our partnership with Australia, there's a lot to be said about that, but for today I just want to focus quickly on the two agreements that we're about to sign. One of them is something that takes forward a partnership that we've been engaged in for a long time, and that's the Landsat Next 2030 International Partnership Initiative. Having Australia as a founding partner is both important in and of itself, but I think it also sends a very strong message to many others because what we have with this initiative is an ability to really leap forward in how we map, in how we monitor the planet's environment and its natural resources. And what this partnership does is it will facilitate targeted resource exploration. It will allow us to focus on our supply chain development for critical minerals.

Australia is particularly well positioned to play a critical role in this, a central role, in Landsat Next success, providing critical ground station infrastructure, personnel, services, and science, all in support of a critical mission. This is for us both, I think, a great example of how the United States and Australia are building together an innovation alliance, as the prime minster and President set it forward, and tackling climate change and doing it together.

Second, we'll be signing Memorandum of Understanding on Combating State Information Manipulation. This is basically a partnership to work together even more effectively on combating misinformation and disinformation. We know that around the world, we are in an environment in which misinformation, disinformation is unfortunately a tool of choice for countries that are in adversarial relationships with both of our countries.

Australia is now the 20th country to sign an agreement with us. We have agreements with European partners, African partners, in East Asia, in other places, all of whom have endorsed this framework. And it allows us to work together to identify misinformation and disinformation, and then to take effective steps together to combat it - sharing best practices, sharing other tools that we've developed; building greater resilience in our civil society, our institutions; strengthening information integrity across the entire digital ecosystem.

Through this MOU, the United States and Australia intend to expand information sharing and pursue complementary approaches to this threat across the Indo-Pacific. So we're grateful for this new partnership that builds on so many others we have. We'll talk about a lot more tomorrow when we have a chance to gather with the press after AUSMIN, but for today I just wanted to put a brief focus on the two agreements we'll sign.

Penny, with that, over to you.

FOREIGN MINISTER WONG: Thank you very much, Tony. And it's wonderful to be here in Washington. It's great to see you again, as we've been hanging out a fair bit lately. (Laughter.) And we're really - I'm really enjoying it, but it's particularly gratifying to be back here in Washington for the AUSMIN talks.

Can I start by echoing Secretary Blinken's comments about the Middle East? And Australia joins with the United States call for de-escalation. We endorse, again, the ceasefire that President Biden has placed on the table and which has UN Security Council endorsement, and we join with the Secretary in the comments he's made about a cycle of violence - the cycle of violence continuing leads us to simply more violence, more conflict, more insecurity, and more lives lost. So again, thank you for the work you're doing to try and forge a ceasefire, Tony, and we continue to support you in your leadership on - for those efforts.

As I said, it's fantastic to be here, and I'll just make some brief comments - I'll make some comments, obviously, tomorrow, but - about our partnership. The U.S.-Australia alliance is - it's more than history or tradition. It is that, but it is a living expression of two countries that are aligned. We're aligned by who we are, what we stand for, and what we want. Two robust democracies whose peoples' voices and values are heard and protected by the rule of law, and both of us home to ancient cultures and generations of immigrants to countries that share an interest in a world that's open, stable, and prosperous, in which all of us can make our own sovereign choices.

We recognize again that the choices we have had and that we continue to have demand the U.S. engagement, the U.S. security guarantee, which has enabled the long period of stability and prosperity we have enjoyed in the Indo-Pacific, which remains as vital today as ever. As ever.

I said we are united and aligned by who we are, what we stand for, and what we want, and the two agreements today are a demonstration of that. The Landsat - the next Landsat agreement, we've been working together on these technologies for many years. This is the next generation. This is about economic engagement, technology - technological engagement. I'm really pleased to see the longstanding partnership continue. In fact, I think that what we're signing today looks to a launch in 2030 or 2031, so it speaks to the - our trust in one another in this area and how much we will work together for this technological cooperation.

In relation to the foreign interference, I'd make this point. We're democracies and we understand that part of what we do together in the world is to protect our political systems, our political traditions, our values. And that requires us to stand together against many risks and threats and challenges, and one of those is foreign interference. So we - the integrity of our democracies matters to us all. So really pleased to work with you on that.

Looking forward tomorrow to the work at AUSMIN. Always a pleasure to meet with you and the Secretary of Defense, such good friends of Australia's. But I am particularly looking forward to, as always, such a creative and interesting and open and trusting discussion about how we continue to strengthen and modernize our alliance. Thanks very much for having us. (Applause.)

MODERATOR: Secretary Blinken and Foreign Minister Wong will sign an MOU on Countering Foreign State Information Manipulation and a Joint Communiqué on the Landsat Next satellite program.

(The Memorandum of Understanding and Joint Communiqué were signed.)

MODERATOR: The MOU on Countering Foreign State Information Manipulation will set the direction for future U.S.-Australia collaboration on building resiliency within civil society institutions and information ecosystems against disinformation. It is the result of increased cooperation between the U.S. and Australian governments to identify and counter foreign state information manipulation.

The Joint Communiqué on the Landsat Next satellite program recognizes Australia as a partner in the Landsat Next satellite mission, which will provide critical insights into the Earth's land surfaces, surface waters, and coastal regions. The partnership builds on a half-century of cooperation between the United States and Australia in Earth observation missions.

SECRETARY BLINKEN: All right. (Applause.) Thanks, everyone.

FOREIGN MINISTER WONG: Thank you.

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