Australian Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd and European Commission Vice President Baroness Catherine Ashton are meeting in Canberra to foster teamwork in security, development assistance and climate change.

Earlier, Prime Minister Julia Gilliard and EC President Jose Manuel Barroso stressed the need to sustain closer collaboration between Australia and the EU during bilateral talks.

English CNTV reported that the two officials have emphasized the urgency of reinforcing the Australia-EU partnership for the long term. They also acknowledged the importance of starting negotiations in the very near future on a broad-ranging, treaty-level bilateral agreement, noting this would provide an overarching framework for joint action in areas such as foreign and security policy, development cooperation, trade and investment, climate change and environment, research, science, innovation and education.

Rudd and Ashton met during the Australia-European Union Ministerial Consultations summit in Canberra, and will continue discussions over the coming months.

Rudd said the meeting signals a major landmark in the Australia-EU relationship, and opens a new phase of closer cooperation.

Gilliard and Barroso traded observations about the global economy, including recent developments in financial markets, and restated their commitment to strengthen economic cooperation in international community.

Expressing optimism regarding the G20 summit in Cannes, they cited the importance of pursuing aggressively the G20's goals to achieve strong, sustainable and balanced growth, strengthen the international monetary system and continue financial regulatory reform.

Hopefully, these will add to the effort in addressing the causes of the current vulnerabilities and preventing future crises, according to the CNTV report.

They reaffirmed their strong commitment to free trade and investment as well as resistance to protectionist trade actions. They agreed it was necessary to sustain and advance economic reform and trade liberalisation, including the conclusion of the WTO Doha Round.