CANBERRA, May 2 (Xinhua) -- Australia and France announced on Wednesday to form a defence symposium to increase cooperation in the area.
The Australia-France Defence Industry Symposium was announced by Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and French President Emmanuel Macron during Macron's official visit to Australia on Wednesday.
The symposium will be chaired by Christopher Pyne, Australia's Defence Industry Minister, and his French counterpart Florence Parly.
"The Australia-France Defence Industry Symposium will focus on identifying further opportunities to deepen our defence industry and capability cooperation for the benefit of both nations," Pyne said in a media release on Wednesday.
"Australian and French businesses already have a strong track record of partnering to develop and deliver innovative capabilities," he added.
Meanwhile, Australian Minister for Defence Marise Payne and French Assistant Minister for Defense Genevieve Darrieussecq on Wednesday signed a Mutual Logistics Support Agreement (MLSA) between the nations.
The MLSA will improve the Australian Defence Force (ADF) and French Armed Forces combined operations by enabling mutual access to logistics services, resources and logistics training.
"We conduct vital humanitarian assistance and disaster relief training with the French, including through the upcoming Exercise Croix du Sud, and this treaty will improve our ability to work together in response to events in the South Pacific," Payne said.
The Australia-France defence relationship was taken to a new level in April 2016 when the Australian government awarded a 50 billion Australian dollar (37.5 billion U.S. dollar) contract to build a new fleet of submarines to French shipbuilder DCNS which has since been re-named Naval Group.
Naval Group beat companies from Germany and Japan to win the project, the results of which won't hit water until early 2030s.
"Through this program, France's Naval Group will partner with Australian industry to deliver a fleet of 12 regionally superior submarines, creating an annual average of around 2,800 jobs," Pyne said.
Work is expected to begin on the 12 diesel-electric Shortfin Barracuda submarines in South Australia in 2022.
The Future Submarines Program was a major part of a defence plan released by Pyne that leading professional services firm Pricewaterhouse Coopers estimated to be worth 200 billion AU dollars (149 billion U.S. dollars).
