HOST: Prime Minister thanks for joining us. You joked in your dinner speech about your accent, now you're not really having trouble being understood here are you?
PM: No I'm not, but I thought a joke was worthwhile so I did say even the English language speakers might want to use the translation. Nick Clegg from the United Kingdom ostentatiously then put his headphones on and started pointing at them. So it was a good moment, a funny moment, but no people are understanding me.
HOST: Well is it your first trip abroad and you are obviously introduce yourself to a lot of leaders that you haven't met before. Now it may be confusing for some of them that it's not Kevin Rudd leading a Labor Government here. How are you explaining that to leaders and has anybody asked about it?
PM: People have been talking to me about it, about the circumstances of the election, but for many of these leaders a minority government is a very familiar thing, a very common concept and so no one has asked me about stability questions, particularly here in Europe, they are very used to minority governments.
HOST: You've raised the issue of a possible treaty with Europe, which I understand is related to trade matters and research and development, how much is that a precursor to a free trade agreement and if you were to pursue that, would that have to be pursued individually with European countries or with the EU as a whole?
PM: It would be a treaty level agreement with the EU as a whole. It would obviously have to go through the EU's processes. It would not be a free trade agreement, but it would outline the cooperation between Australia and the EU. Obviously the EU is a big economy, it's important to us in terms of collaboration and exchange. We want to have the same kind of status with the EU that other G20 countries do. That's why we're looking to take the relationship to this next stage.
HOST: You went to Afghanistan on the way here and you've spoken to the Secretary-General of NATO. How much pressure is there on Australia to increase or adjust its contribution? There always is pressure for extra contributions, is that pressure going on other countries or will there ultimately be a request for Australia to increase its troop numbers?
PM: I have not received a formal request from NATO or from the United States of America to increase our commitment. We've increased our commitment by 40 per cent already in the last 12 months. When the Minister for Defence Stephen Smith visited Afghanistan recently he did have a discussion with General Petraeus about trainers and we have said we would make available some artillery trainers to assist with that development of capacity with the Afghan National Army. But we're not the subject of any formal request to increase our troop numbers.
HOST: You've spoken to leaders here about Australia's handling of the global financial crisis, and that's obviously been well canvassed and probably well now understood, but as you head back home again, you'll be on your way home in 24 hours, how is it that you want Australia to be perceived by the nations of Europe and Asia, under your Prime Ministership?
PM: Well I want Australia economically to be perceived as a country that emerged from the global financial crisis strong, but a country that is not going to rest on its laurels, that will keep building on that strength, building with infrastructure investments, building with human capital investments, better education and skills training. So that's my message. We've done well, but we are aiming to do even better.
In terms of our foreign policy, obviously there will be a lot of continuity in our foreign policy, my focus will be on getting the big relationships right, and my focus will be on participating in multi-national forums, like this one of course, the G20, APEC, the East Asia Summit that are so important for the world and for our region.
HOST: Prime Minister thanks very much for joining us.
PM: Thank you.