As its first Dialogue Partner, Australia has a longstanding and deep relationship with ASEAN, covering cooperation in a range of areas from security, cultural, economic, education and development. Along with Australia's participation in annual ASEAN meetings with Dialogue Partners, the ASEAN-Australia Forum is held every 18 months to two years, most recently in November 2006 in Thailand.
Australia and ASEAN first formalized trade relations in a Memorandum of Understanding on ASEAN-Australia Trade Cooperation in 1976. In 2006-07, ASEAN received around 12 percent of Australia's total exports, and was the source of 19 percent of Australia's imports. To further strengthen our trading relations, Australia, together with New Zealand, is currently negotiating a comprehensive, WTO-consistent Free Trade Agreement with ASEAN. When concluded, possibly by mid-2008, this agreement will further consolidate Australia's economic integration with the region and complement our existing bilateral agreements with Singapore and Thailand.
Education services are Australia's largest services export to ASEAN. Australia is a leading provider of on-shore and off-shore education services to the region, with over 70,000 students from ASEAN countries studying at Australian educational institutions in 2007.
Our people-to-people links are also strong, with high-levels of tourism and travel between Australia and ASEAN countries and dynamic cultural relations: tours by performing arts groups and cultural exhibitions are a regular feature of our cultural exchanges with ASEAN countries.
Australia has worked in partnership with ASEAN for over 30 years to build economic cooperation and prosperity in the region. Australia has committed more than $50 million to the ASEAN-Australia Development Cooperation Program since 2002. In addition, Australia provides substantial development assistance to individual ASEAN countries on a bilateral basis.