With support from the US State Department the Perth USAsia Centre’s Next Generation Regional Perspectives on the US-Australia Alliance in the Indo-Pacific program has brought together five representatives from across the Indo-Pacific region to provide their perspectives from Vietnam, South Korea, India, Indonesia and First Nations Australia. 

The program has three objectives: to highlight emerging Indo-Pacific leaders’ perspectives on US and Australian engagement in the Indo-Pacific; to share Australian and US perspectives on the region; and to further understanding of how Indo-Pacific countries, Australia and the US can best collaborate. 

This program will produce an alumni network of ‘alliance ambassadors’ who will return to their home countries and disseminate new policy ideas and enhanced understanding of the region. The first leg of the program saw the group travel to Washington, DC to meet with officials in the White House and Capitol Hill, policymakers, journalists, diplomats, scholars and think tanks.

Part two of the program saw the group reconvene to visit Perth and Canberra. Our participants met with senior government officials, business leaders, policy makers, journalists and industry to better understand not just our region, but the relationship between the United States and Australia and its impact in the Indo-Pacific.