Lisbon – February 2024. His Majesty’s Hon Consul General of the Kingdom of Tonga to Portugal, Mr Anthony Bailey, paid a courtesy visit to Her Excellency Indra McCormick, Ambassador of the Commonwealth of Australia to the Portuguese Republic, based in Lisbon since 2022.
The meeting took place at the Australian Embassy in Lisbon and discussions were held as to how to enhance cooperation between the two pacific nations who established diplomatic relations on 3 December 1970.
Tonga and Australia enjoy the very closest of bilateral relations with over 50 years of formal diplomatic relations, but one heavily pinned by deep, personal, historical and cultural ties, and shared values. Both countries have high commissions in each other’s capitals.
Australia is also a significant donor of aid to Tonga through its programmes offering support to strength the health system and build resilience to natural disasters and climate change.
Both countries also have a shared interest in a secure, inclusive and resilient Pacific region and this is reflected through the close cooperation in maritime security, fisheries management, law enforcement, and community policing through the defence cooperation programme and the Tonga-Australia policing partnership.
There is a very strong people-to-people links between the citizens of both countries.
Prior to his Accession to the Throne in 2012 as King Tupou VI, the then Crown Prince served as Tonga’s High Commissioner to Australia from 2008.
HM Consul General Anthony Bailey has met numerous Australian statesmen including Governor General Sir Peter Cosgrove in 2015 and last visited Australia in the same year. A working visit is planned to Australia in 2024.
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