Australia and New Zealand on Monday signed a pact to deepen cooperation between both countries’ navies.
– The pact, named Plan Tasman, will strengthen cooperation across personnel, training, development, warfighting, engineering, regulation and international engagement, statements from both countries said.
- Plan Tasman was signed by Royal Australian Navy Deputy Chief Rear Admiral Darren Grogan and Royal New Zealand Navy Deputy Chief Commodore Karl Woodhead.
- “Plan Tasman builds on generations of cooperation between our navies and provides a practical framework to strengthen the way we train, operate and develop capability together,” Grogan said.
- Woodhead said the two countries’ maritime relationship was established more than 160 years ago and has been strengthened over generations in war and peacetime.
- “Our strategic guidance is to deepen and formalise the alliance,” Woodhead said, describing the plan as “a shift from a history of cooperation based on tradition to integration by design.”
https://www.reuters.com/world/china/australia-new-zealand-deepen-naval-partnership-2026-09-21