7 November 2010: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited Melbourne, Australia, where she met Julia Gillard, Prime Minister of Australia, Kevin Rudd, Foreign Minister of Austalia, and others to discuss ways of further strengthening cooperation between the two countries, including on science, technology and the environment.

During the visit, the two sides underscored the US-Australia partnership in leading global efforts to address climate change and the development of new clean energy technologies and announced a series of new steps to strengthen US-Australia science and technology cooperation aimed at protecting the environment and providing access to cleaner energy, including on: solar research cooperation; carbon capture and storage (CCS); new Fulbright Scholarships in renewable energy and climate science research; and the possibility of a framework agreement to expand bilateral cooperation on the peaceful use of outer space focusing on satellite-based land and sea remote sensing, climate change research, meteorology and navigation. The two sides also announced the convening of a Science and Technology Joint Commission Meeting in Washington DC, US, in February 2011, to identify areas for enhanced cooperation such as clean energy, biotechnology, agriculture, health and climate research. [US Press Release]