みなさま、こんにちは。
オーストラリア大使のジャスティン・ヘイハーストと申します。
Thank you for opportunity to join this Completion Ceremony for Project Aquila.
I want to acknowledge the hard work of the different teams across the region, including those from Australia, Japan, and Singapore, in delivering Project Aquila.
It’s good to see CEO, Tony Lombardo, here from Australia and I want to commend Lendlease Japan CEO, Andrew Gauci, for all of his work to advance the commercial partnership between Australia and Japan.
Andrew and Lendlease have also provided great support to people on the Noto Peninsula after the earthquake by helping restore communications to affected communities.
Lendlease is a terrific Australian company, with a global mindset, working with local partners around the world to invest in communities, and it has been active in Japan since 1988.
Congratulations also to Lendlease’s partners, Kajima Corporation, Nikken Sekkei, Princeton Digital Group and others.
I hope this project leads to many other collaborations between you.
As you will know, Australia and Japan are the closest of strategic partners, working in areas like energy, food, defence, and a range of new economic security areas.
Secure digital connectivity – and secure data storage -is yet another agenda that matters for both governments.
As does the AI revolution- which is vital for both nations, this is an agenda that requires strong and trusted partnerships.
Japan is becoming a leading regional for data centres and we expect high demand in future years, including thanks to incentives and support from the Government of Japan.
Project Aquila is an excellent example of Australian and Japanese companies working together on a strategic agenda for mutual benefit.
The Australian Government strongly supports this type of commercial partnership.
So, again, congratulations.
I wish all of you – and this project – every success.