KAS Australia and the Pacific, in cooperation with the ANU Centre for European Studies, was delighted to once again hold the annual KAS Lecture as an in-person event this year. After cancellation due to Covid in 2021, it was great for participants to be able to meet the keynote speaker, ask questions and engage in lively debates during the reception following the lecture.
This year's lecture on 'The EU-Indo-Pacific Relations in Times of Uncertainty and Geo-political Power Struggles' was delivered by Member of the European Parliament David McAllister, who stressed that events in the Pacific region directly affected EU economic and national security and that the EU's engagement in the region was an invitation to partners in the region to cooperate on the basis of common principles and joint interests. He further explained that the EU's Global Gateway and Indo-Pacific Strategies as well as the EU-Australia Framework Agreement were good first steps to greater EU engagement in the region, but that concrete projects were now needed to fortify cooperation, as 'action speaks, not words'. He concluded the lecture with a list of opportunities for future cooperation between Australia and the EU, emphasising that the EU and Australia could both greatly benefit from increased cooperation.
Read the full speech transcript here!
