Camelia Pasandaran Indonesia and Australia on Tuesday agreed to establish a comprehensive partnership to increase the volume of trade and investment between the two countries. “For the sake of the two nations, we agreed to think about establishing a comprehensive economic partnership between us so that what has been achieved in trade could be increased,” President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said during a joint media conference in Jakarta with Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard.

P.S. SURYANARAYANA in Singapore A haze blankets the Indonesian city of Batam in Riau province bordering Singapore on October 22. The country's immediate ASEAN neighbours were dismayed that the man-made fires in Sumatra in mid-October were allowed to pose a health hazard to the adjacent areas in Singapore and in parts of Malaysia. INDONESIA is a rising power within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).