Australia and The Netherlands have discussed details of the imminent deployment to Afghanistan of another 200 Australian troops.
The Australians are to serve in a Provincial Reconstruction Team led by about 2000 Dutch forces, in southern Oruzgan province.
The Prime Minister, (mr) john howard, and his Dutch counterpart, Jan Peter Balkenende, have held talks on the mission in canberra.
Dr Balkenende says it's important that the two countries work together to help the Afghan people.
"Australia and the Netherlands share the same values: freedom, liberty, human rights. And therefore it is important to work on counter-terrorism. Therefore is important that we work close together now in Oruzgan. You have a very well skilled army and we are looking forward to working together. It is important if you talk about international solidarity."
Australia has also decided to open an embassy in the Afghan capital, Kabul, to be co-located with the Dutch embassy.