Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. (Photo: AFP/VNA)Sydney (VNA) – Australian PrimeMinister Malcolm Turnbull on March 17 announced Australia will provide aninvestment of 30 million AUD (23.4 million USD) to support “smart cities” inSoutheast Asia.
Australian Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU)named Melbourne the world’s most livable city in 2017 for a seventh consecutiveyear while Perth and Adelaide always made to the Top 10, said Turnbull duringhis keynote address in a special conference with 10 ASEAN member countryleaders on the sidelines of the ASEAN-Australia Special Summit.
However, some ASEAN cities, such asIndonesia’s Jakarta, the Philippines’ Manila, and Thailand’s Bangkok wereranked near the bottom of the list, he added.
Modern cities today are applying manyadvanced technologies like touchscreen, e-commerce and digital currenciesdesigned to be compatible in different countries, the leader said, citingSingapore as a good example of a smart city.
He hoped that the “smart cities” initiativewill create a bank of knowledge that brings together ideas for sustainableurban planning from Australia and the ASEAN nations.
The first ASEAN-Australia Special Summitopened in Sydney a day earlier, in the presence of Turnbull and leaders of theten ASEAN nations including Vietnamese PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc.
Themed “Enhancing Regional Security and Prosperity”, the event is expected todiscuss issues related to regional security, economic relations as well ascounter-terrorism measures so as to further tighten the relationship betweenAustralia and ASEAN.
The ASEAN-Australia Business Summit, the International Counter-TerrorismConference and a plenary meeting of senior leaders are scheduled to take placewithin the framework of the three-day event.
ASEAN and Australia set up relations in 1974.Australia was the first nation establishing the official dialogue partnershipwith ASEAN in all three fields of politics, economics and specialisedcooperation.-VNA
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