Doorstop interview - Vientiane

representing Australia at the ASEAN Summit, and for the Australia-ASEAN Summit as well. This is an important relationship that Australia has with Southeast Asia. It's our second largest trading partner. There are 500,000 jobs in Australia depend upon our trade in Southeast Asia, and the work that Nicholas Moore has done in developing the 2040 Southeast Asia Economic Strategy is so important for Australia. So the next two days is an important opportunity for us to engage with our neighbours in what is, of course, the fastest growing region of the world in human history.

JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, what will your message be to Premier Li?

PRIME MINISTER: My message will be a consistent one, which is that we'll cooperate where we can, we'll disagree where we must, and we'll have some direct discussions about some of the disagreements that are there, but also that it is in our interest to communicate with China, which is our largest trading partner. Thank you.