AUSTRALIA should aim to be the world's go-to place when it comes to information about South East Asia, Foreign Minister Bob Carr says.
Speaking at the launch of the nation's first interdisciplinary South East Asia research centre at the University of Sydney, Senator Carr said other nations would come to Australia to seek information on the region.
"I think Australians can make themselves experts in South East Asia," he told reporters at the centre's launch on Friday.
"Americans and Europeans, or Africans and South Americans, seeking advice about South East Asia can come to Australia and get it - we've got to make that our goal.
"We've got to work on it and ensure that this country has got a stock of specialists on South-East Asia.
"That is one of the competitive advantages Australia has got. We know the region to our north and we know it intimately - we know its economic prospects, its political systems and its cultures."
More than 200 academics from the university work either on, or in, the region.
The centre will look at topics including infectious diseases, emergency management, the environment and regional economics.
The university's Vice Chancellor, Dr Michael Spence, said he wanted the centre not just to study the region, but to participate in it.
"SSEAC will enhance Australia's and the world's understandings of our nearest neighbours as well as connect our populations through in-country research and humanitarian projects that will bind us to common goals and outcomes and enhance our shared future," he said.
SSEAC director, Associate Professor Michele Ford, said the launch comes at a time when the eyes of the world are on the region, with Barack Obama's visit to Myanmar, and Australia's participation in the East Asia summit.
"Everyone has been saying how wonderful the timing is. Maybe it's the South-East Asian century, rather than the Asian century," she said.
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