[photo credit: Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III via X (@SecDef)]
United States Defense Secretray Lloyd J. Austin III will depart this week for a trip to Australia, the Philippines, Laos, and Fiji to participate in a series of bilateral and multilateral meetings. This was recently disclosed in a statement by Pentagon Press Secretary Major General Pat Ryder.
According to the Pentagon Press Secretary, these engagements will drive ongoing efforts to modernize alliances and partnerships toward a shared vision for a free and open Indo-Pacific.
As part of his 12th official visit to the region, Secretary Austin will first travel to Darwin, Australia for multilateral meetings with regional allies and engagements with U.S. Marines from the Marine Rotational Force-Darwin.
From there, Secretary Austin will then make his fourth visit to the Philippines, where he will advance security objectives with Philippine leaders and meet with U.S. and Philippine forces.
In Laos, Secretary Austin will participate in the ASEAN Defense Ministers’ Meeting (ADMM)-Plus on November 21, reaffirm the U.S. commitment to ASEAN centrality at the ASEAN-United States Informal Meeting, and identify future areas of cooperation with regional counterparts.
Secretary Austin will conclude his trip in Fiji, marking the first ever visit by a U.S. Secretary of Defense, and will meet with key Fijian leaders to deepen the bilateral defense relationship.
Secretary Austin’s trip comes as the United States builds on unprecedented cooperation with like-minded countries to strengthen regional security.
