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The French Foreign Minister’s visit to Australia in December last year marked a new phase in relations between the two countries. Two years after the breakdown in bilateral relations caused by the cancelled submarine contract, Catherine Colonna’s presence on Australian soil was evidence of France’s willingness to move on from past controversies and set the relationship on a new, upward, if more modest, trajectory.
Strategic considerations are still underlying the resumption of the relations, initiated in July 2022 by the visit of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to Paris. Yet, the focus of the dialogue has changed. With strategic competition in the Indo-Pacific stronger than ever, security concerns are still a primary driver of the bilateral relation.
Cooperation is no longer about the co-development of big military assets but about the joint management of a space where sub-strategic issues have potentially major strategic impacts.
In this live webinar our guests will debate the ways Australia and France will fulfil this objective, as well as the contradiction and obstacles that may come in their way.
Event Speakers
Ms Anne McNaughton
Anne McNaughton is a comparative lawyer who researches at the intersection of international and comparative law.
Mrs Denise Fisher
Denise Fisher is currently Visiting Fellow, at the ANU Centre for European Studies, writing on France in the South Pacific.
Christian Lechervy
Christian Lechervy is an Advisor to the Program on Pacific Islands of the Center for Asian Studies at the French Institute of International Relations. During his thirty-year diplomatic career, Lechervy held positions at the Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as well as several ambassadorial postings.
Dr Frédéric Grare
Dr Frédéric Grare is a Senior Research Fellow joined NSC in 2023 as part of an expert program sponsored by the government of France.