Australia and the United Kingdom signed on Tuesday a pact that would allow the two nations closer cooperation on information sharing and a host of other collaborative efforts, underscoring the two governments' improving relationship.

The two countries are connected by history with Australia once serving as a major territory of the once mighty British Empire in the Asia-Pacific region that eventually transformed into the Commonwealth, both of which are key members.

British Foreign Minister William Hague expressed his government's intention to continue and further nurture its deepening relationship with Canberra.

"While this is a partnership rooted in history, it's also relentlessly forward-looking and practical, which is why we attach such importance to it in the British government," Hague stressed in a report by the Australian Associated Press (AAP).

He added that Britain's close ties with Australia enables it to keep abreast with the development in the Asia- Pacific region, where the latter has gained prominence and respect from its neighboring Asian nations.

"We particularly appreciate Australia's understanding of the Asia Pacific region and the emerging powers," Hague said.

On his part, Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd has expressed joy that Australia and the British government both exerted efforts to grow what they have started in the past.

"Once this relationship was narrow and limited to our respective wider regions: Asia and the Pacific, and here in Europe ... Now it is indeed broad, partly reflective of this Asian globalization where we find our values and our interests intersecting right across the world," Rudd was quoted by AAP as saying.

He added that Australia and Britain enjoy fruitful collaboration due to many similar things that the countries share.

"What underpins the success of this relationship is in fact our common values, and our common interests and these extend across the many areas in which we are engaged," Rudd said.

Rudd and Hague met in London for the Australia-UK Ministerial (AUKMIN) Consultations, which both officials said was used as an occasion for the two nations to discuss their common domestic and global agendas.

Rudd revealed that the talks delved on the Afghan War, the Middle East crisis, the two countries' relationship with the United States, their United Nation duties and the emerging concerns posed by cyber security issues.

Both Rudd and Hague are hopeful that closer coordination between Australia and UK will enable them to effectively address the issues mentioned above.

"We believe close consultation between Britain and Australia have never been more important and I think I can confidently say and that we would all agree that our approach to world affairs has seldom been more in step with each other," Hague said.