The United Kingdom and Australia signed a new defense agreement on Thursday March 21 in Canberra, paving the way for welcoming troops and sharing military intelligence, we learned from an official source.
The document includes a
“Status of Forces Agreement
,” according to ministers from both countries, which facilitates the deployment and operations of soldiers from each nation in the other.
British Defense Minister Grant Shapps signed the agreement with his Australian counterpart, Richard Marles, during a ceremony at Parliament House in Canberra.
The agreement does not constitute a full-fledged mutual defense pact, which would require one side to intervene if the other was attacked or threatened.
But both sides said
they were “committed to engaging”
each other in the event of a threat.
“As the world becomes more complex and uncertain, we must modernize our most important partnerships
,” said Richard Marles.
“The agreements we reached today will guarantee this result in the future
,” he added.
Long-standing agreement
A status of forces agreement, common between NATO members, defines the rules applicable to foreign military personnel based in a host country.
Australia already has a long-standing status of forces agreement with the United States.
Alongside the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom are members of the fledgling AUKUS defense alliance, a pact aimed at curbing Chinese military expansion in the Asia-Pacific region.
One of the main pillars of the AUKUS pact aims to provide Australia with a fleet of powerful nuclear-powered submarines.
Thursday's agreement would thus facilitate, for example, the training of Australian sailors on British nuclear submarines, or the installation of British crews in Australia.