Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he is taking to further increase defence, security, and trade partnerships in the Indo-Pacific region.

Both the Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary have recently reaffirmed our long-term commitment to the Indo-Pacific region and ambition to strengthen defence, security and trade. The UK continues to deepen our strong bilateral partnerships across the region such as through the UK-India Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, the UK-Indonesia Partnership Roadmap to 2024 and a Bilateral Framework with Republic of Korea.

As an ASEAN Dialogue Partner, we will deepen our cooperation with ASEAN and have negotiated a joint Plan of Action with ASEAN for the next 5 years.

The UK has secured free trade agreements with Australia and New Zealand, and has signed free trade deals with Singapore, Vietnam, the Republic of Korea and Japan, which sets the standards in removing friction and increasing confidence in digital trade. We also intend to be the first European country to accede to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership. The UK continues to build long-term defence, industrial and technological partnerships through agreements including AUKUS, with Australia and the USA, and we continue to work on closer collaboration on combat air programmes with Japan.