Canberra, Feb 23 (IANS): Australia is expected to host the Asean-Australia Special Summit in 2018, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull announced on Thursday.

It will be the first time that Australia will host an Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) summit of any kind.

In a joint statement with New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian, Turnbull confirmed that Sydney has been chosen as the host city to the event, to be held in March 2018, Xinhua news agency reported.

"The summit is an historic and unprecedented opportunity to strengthen Australia's strategic partnership with Asean and deliver tangible economic and security benefits to Australia," the statement said.

"This summit provides an important forum to discuss how we can continue to make our region safer and more prosperous," it further said.

The Australian government said it expects that the Asean-Australia Special Summit will create an enormous economic opportunity for Sydney, increasing visitor numbers to the city for the critical global forum.