US Secretary of Defence to make historic visit to Fiji

US Secretary of Defence Lloyd J. Austin III will depart this week for a trip to Fiji, Australia, the Philippines and Laos, to participate in a series of bilateral and multilateral meetings.

Secretary Austin will conclude his trip in Fiji, marking the first ever visit by a US Secretary of Defence, and will meet with key Fijian leaders to deepen the bilateral defence relationship.

The US Department of Defence says these engagements will drive ongoing efforts to modernize the alliances and partnerships toward their shared vision for a free and open Indo-Pacific.

As part of his twelfth official visit to the region, Secretary Austin will first travel to Darwin, Australia for multilateral meetings with regional allies and engagements with US Marines from the Marine Rotational Force-Darwin.

From there, Secretary Austin will make his fourth visit to the Philippines, where he will advance security objectives with Philippine leaders and meet with US and Philippine forces.

In Laos, Secretary Austin will participate in the ASEAN Defence Ministers' Meeting (ADMM)-Plus on November 21st, reaffirm the US commitment to ASEAN centrality at the ASEAN-United States Informal Meeting, and identify future areas of cooperation with regional counterparts.

Secretary Austin's trip comes as the United States builds on unprecedented cooperation with like-minded countries to strengthen regional security.

Lloyd James Austin III was sworn in as the 28th Secretary of Defence on January 22nd 2021.

Austin is the principal assistant to the President in all matters relating to the Department of Defence and serves on the National Security Council.

His 41-year career in the Army included command at the corps, division, battalion, and brigade levels.

Austin was awarded the Silver Star for his leadership of the Army’s 3rd Infantry Division during the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Seven years later, he would assume the duties of Commanding General of United States Forces – Iraq, overseeing all combat operations in the country.

After a tour as the Army’s Vice Chief of Staff, Austin concluded his uniformed service as the Commander of US Central Command, responsible for all military operations in the Middle East and Afghanistan.

In this assignment, he led US and coalition efforts to battle ISIS in Iraq and Syria.

He retired from the Army in April, 2016.

Since his retirement from military service, Austin served on the Boards of Directors for Raytheon Technologies, Nucor, and Tenet Healthcare.