Britain, Australia to deepen AUKUS commitment, economic ties

By Kirsty Needham

SYDNEY (Reuters) -Australia and Britain's defence and foreign ministers arrived for talks in Sydney on Friday on boosting cooperation, including deepening the two countries commitment to the AUKUS nuclear submarine partnership.

Britain's Foreign Minister David Lammy and Defence Secretary John Healey were met by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in Sydney, where talks are expected to focus on boosting trade ties and progressing the AUKUS partnership for Britain and Australia to build a new class of nuclear-powered submarine.

The United States is reviewing the trilateral agreement struck in 2021, and has pressed Australia to increase defence spending to counter China's military build-up in the Indo Pacific region.

A new British-Australian treaty will underpin each country's submarine programmes and is expected to be worth up to 20 billion pounds ($27 billion) to Britain in exports over the next 25 years, Britain's Ministry of Defence said.

"AUKUS is one of Britain's most important defence partnerships, strengthening global security while driving growth at home," British defence minister John Healey said in a statement.

The treaty "confirms our AUKUS commitment for the next half century," he added.

Following the Australia-United Kingdom Ministerial Consultations (AUKMIN), ministers are scheduled to travel to the northern garrison city of Darwin, where the British aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales has arrived for the Talisman Sabre war games.

As many as 40,000 troops from 19 countries are taking part in the Talisman Sabre exercises held from July 13 to August 4, which Australia's military has said are a rehearsal of joint war fighting that contribute to stability in the Indo-Pacific.

Britain has significantly increased its participation in the exercise co-hosted by Australia and the United States, with 3,000 troops taking part.

(Reporting by Kirsty Needham in Sydney, and Sachin Ravikumar; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)