(Article by Andi Abdussalam)

     Jakarta - Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's first state visit to Indonesia this week has re-affirmed and continued Canberra's commitment to bilateral cooperation laid down by his predecessor John Howard. "Rudd's visit to Indonesia is part of the new Australian government's policy to continue the cooperation initiated during  John Howard's administration," Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda said.

     According to Wirajuda, the partnership cooperation between Indonesia and Australia was one of the things both nations should continue. Indonesia and Australia signed a partnership cooperation agreement when President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono visited Australia in 2005.

   During his two-day first state visit to Indonesia, Rudd discussed with his Indonesian counterpart President Yudhoyono a wide range of issues such as trade, climate change, tourism and other matters of mutual concern.

  On Friday, Yudhoyono and Rudd, who arrived in Jakarta on Thursday for his first state visit since taking power in November last year,  discussed various issues and witnessed the signing of a cooperation agreement on forest management and carbon trading between the two countries.

   Indonesia and Australia agreed to cooperate in coping with the impact of climate change. The cooperation was provided for in a Forest Carbon Partnership agreement signed after a bilateral meeting at the Merdeka Palace on Friday (13/5). "We discussed cooperation to cope with climate change in concrete ways. We have signed an Australia-Indonesia Forest Carbon Partnership agreement as a model of bilateral cooperation to anticipate climate change in the forestry field," Yudhoyono said.

     In the tourism sector, Indonesia hoped more Australian tourists will come to Indonesia as security conditions in the country have become more conducive. "In terms of cooperation in the tourism sector, the number of Australian tourists coming to Indonesia increased by 35 percent in 2007 compared to the previous year. I hope this can be maintained,"  President Yudhoyono told a press conference after his meeting with Kevin Rudd.

      Indonesia's tourist resort island of Bali was rocked by terrorist bomb attacks in 2002 and 2005 which killed many people, including Australians. Since then, the governments of Australia and Indonesia have agreed not to bow to terrorists, and to increase bilateral cooperation to ensure such incidents will never happen again. "I am saying that conditions in Indonesia are back to normal. A lot of Australian tourists now come to Bali and I hope their number will increase," Yudhoyono said.

      In the trade field, Indonesia and Australia are formulating a free trade agreement (FTA) which is expected to be finalized in 2009.  According to Indonesian Trade Minister Mari Elka Pangestu, Indonesia hopes that bilateral negotiations on the FTA will be completed in 2009 if talks on FTA at the ASEAN level (including Australia and New Zealand) are concluded this year. "We will wait for the completion of talks on ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand (AANZ) free trade this year. After the AANZ negotiations are finalized, Indonesia and Australia will hold talks on their bilateral FTA deal which are expected to be finished in 2009," the Minister said.

     Negotiations on FTA AANZ began in Vietnam early in June but both sides had not yet agreed on any modality for the regional FTA. Australia and New Zealand want that the market for 96 percent of the tariff posts of commodities should be opened but ASEAN countries want smaller tariff post percentage.

     So far, various FTA negotiations have been discussing only 90 percent of the tariff posts. The remaining were lists of sensitive products whose markets were not open. Australia and New Zealand have been asking that animal products --their principal commodities such as meat and milk-- be freed from import duties. Indonesian, in the meantime, asked Australia and New Zealand to open their markets for textile and textile products.

      According to Rudd, bilateral cooperation in the economic field should be intensified and negotiations on regional trade among Australia, New Zealand and ASEAN would be continued. On the occasion, the Indonesian President supported Australia's idea to enhance dialogs on culture."We also agreed to continue regional and bilateral cooperation to overcome current global problems such as the food and energy crises, how to reduce the burden especially for developing countries," Yudhoyono said. (Antara, 16/6/08)