One thousand one hundred U.S. Marines were set to train in Australia for 2014, as agreed upon by U.S. and Australia in observance of the announcement made by President Barrack Obama back in 2011.

U.S. Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel said that the agreement is in total observance of U.S. and Australia's "shared regional security objectives". He announced this during a press conference at the Annual Australia-United States Ministerial (AUSMIN) talks in Washington.

"As we continue to implement our force posture initiatives with Australia, we also agreed today on a statement of principles that we just signed that will ensure these efforts are closely aligned with both our nations' shared regional security objectives," said Mr hagel.

The two countries set a meeting in December to discuss on a binding agreement that will oversee the defence cooperation. The agreement might include provisions on relocating an advanced space surveillance telescope to Western Australia in lieu of an concurrence already made during AUSMIN 2012.

AUSMIN 2013 was attended by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop, Mr Hagel and Australian Defence Minister David Johnston.

Meanwhile, Mr Johnston told The Australian that as part of the U.S.-Australia agreement, U.S. forces will be provided with infrastructure to accommodate their annual training sessions in northern Australia. But he clarified that this will not involve constructing new training facilities; rather, the U.S. forces will share the Australian Defence Force facilities.

He also said that assurance need not be made about the U.S. keeping its promise to return defence spending to around 2 per cent of GDP within 10 years in exchange of Australia carrying the weight of infrastructure expenses for the training.

On the other hand, Lowy Institute fellow James Brown said that a confirmation is needed to settle the decision as to which country shoulders the infrastructure expenses needed for the training.

"Funding negotiations for the initiatives announced back in 2011 have been very slow," Mr Brown said.

"In both countries the military are being squeezed by politicians seeking budget savings but unprepared to adjust their strategic ambitions and demands for capability," former army chief Peter Leahy said.

Peter Jennings, executive director of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute think tank, said that both U.S. and Australia doubt each other's commitment to the training agreement.

"Both countries should use AUSMIN to assure themselves that they really are committed to current plans increasing defence engagement," Mr Jennings said.