Australia and New Zealand announced plans for the allies’ armies to work more closely together as New Zealand looks to its larger neighbor for help reinvigorating armed forces battling worker shortages.

Plan ANZAC, named after joint World War I forces, aims to improve army interoperability with more cooperation over training, capability, readiness, and personnel. Special forces troops were singled out as an area for continued cooperation.

“As close neighbors and allies, we have a mutual commitment to support each other’s security and maintain a shared focus on the security and stability of our wider region,” Chief of the New Zealand Army Major General John Boswell said in a statement.

Recently, Australia signed up for the AUKUS technology-sharing alliance and significantly increased its expenditure on new weapons. As it is New Zealand’s only formal defense ally, it raised concerns about whether New Zealand’s military can keep pace and maintain interoperability.

The cooperation announcement comes at a time when geopolitical tensions are ramping up in the Pacific.

New Zealand has idled three of its nine navy vessels and retired its P-3 Orion air fleet early as workers leave the military for higher pay elsewhere.

“We will be able to better share lessons across capability development, doctrine for training, and many other areas related to the generation, and in the New Zealand Army’s current case, the regeneration of land combat capability,” said Boswell.

The deal builds on a 2018 agreement to work more closely together to maintain regional stability and improve the effectiveness of joint operations with cooperation on logistics, communication, and training.