MELBOURNE, Australia, March 5 (Xinhua) -- Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Tuesday announced a billion-dollar fund to boost clean energy investment in Southeast Asia.

In a speech to the chief executive officer (CEO) Forum at the 2024 ASEAN-Australia Special Summit in Melbourne, Albanese unveiled the two billion Australian dollar (1.29 billion U.S. dollar) Southeast Asia Investment Financing Facility.

To be managed by government agency Export Finance Australia (EFA), the fund will provide loans, guarantees, equity and insurance to bolster two-way trade and investment with ASEAN member nations and support the clean energy transition.

"Australia and Southeast Asia must together face this moment with a sense of optimism and urgency," Albanese said. "Acting on climate change is an environmental necessity for our region, it is also a transformative economic opportunity."

The Australian prime minister said that two-way trade between Australia and ASEAN members passed 178 billion Australian dollars (115 billion U.S. dollars) in 2022, making the bloc the country's second-largest trading partner behind China.

In addition to the new financing facility, Albanese announced an extra 140 million Australian dollars (91 million U.S. dollars) over the next four years for the existing Partnerships for Infrastructure Program, which funds and supports sustainable infrastructure projects in Southeast Asia. Enditem

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