AIDA's first ministerial meeting begins today
By Riyadi
AMBON, Maluku (JP): Indonesia and Australia will hold their first ministerial meeting for the Australia-Indonesia Development Area (AIDA) here today.
AIDA aims to improve economic relations between Australia and Indonesia's eastern provinces.
The meeting will be opened by the coordinating minister for production and distribution, Hartarto, and Australia's foreign minister, Alexander Downer.
The ministers will hammer out proposals made by a special AIDA working group, which comprises representatives from the two countries' governments and private sectors.
The working group, which met last month in Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara and earlier this month in Perth, Western Australia, recommended five cooperation areas.
They are tourism, agriculture, fisheries and animal husbandry, mining and energy (including the Timor Gap project), education and training, and transportation.
One of Hartarto's aids, Kosim Gandataruna, said both governments were looking at specific actions which could enhance cooperation and private-sector-led development in AIDA.
"The government has many tools and policies available, and we intend to maximize the benefit from all of them. The policies and initiatives should be seen a complementary, not competitive," Kosim said.
AIDA arose during the biennial Australia-Indonesia ministerial forum in Jakarta last October.
For Indonesia, AIDA should contribute to development in eastern Indonesia, which lags behind western Indonesia.
Hartarto said one reason behind forming AIDA was the success of ASEAN's sub-regional growth zones.
These are the Indonesia-Malaysia-Singapore Growth Triangle, Indonesia-Malaysia-Thailand Growth Triangle and the Brunei- Indonesia-Malaysia-the Philippines East ASEAN Growth Area.
Jakarta's Center for Strategic and International Studies' Mari E. Pangestu said recently that factors supporting AIDA were close geographic proximity and the potential for each country to compliment the other.
Indonesia has tourism, natural resources and agricultural needs, while Australia has technology, human resources, management and possibly capital.
"The argument is that the potential of each nation to compliment the other is constrained by a lack of information, a lack of promotion, a lack of infrastructure and resources, and the lack of a conducive business environment and cultural differences, including corporate culture," Mari said.
But Mari commended AIDA and said both governments should serve as facilitators and cooperate to reduce investment risks, and ensure the flow of goods, people and capital.
They should cooperate to provide the necessary infrastructure, especially transport and telecommunications, and anticipate any problems of gains being distributed and regional and national conflict, Mari said.