Australia, Indonesia to tie up on transport

Australia, Indonesia to tie up on transport

CANBERRA (AFP): In another sign of closer bilateral ties, Australia announced yesterday an agreement with Indonesia to increase cooperation on transport issues, including transport infrastructure development and aviation security.

Transport Minister Laurie Brereton said a memorandum of understanding signed this week with Indonesian Minister of Transportation Haryanto Dhanutirto, demonstrated Australia's commitment to developing further cooperative links on transport issues.

"Transport infrastructure development, safety and efficiency are critical to both our countries," Brereton said in a statement.

"As close neighbors, it is important that we cooperate on transport issues."

Among other issues in the framework agreement are moves toward electronic commerce in maritime transport, air safety accident and incident investigation, education and training, and research and development.

The agreement followed a call by Haryanto to foreign enterprises, including Australian companies, to bid for up to 11 billion U.S. dollars of transport infrastructure development in Indonesia over the next five years.

Addressing a trade conference in Melbourne on Tuesday, Haryanto, who has special responsibility for non-road infrastructure development such as ports and airports, said his government wanted investment through joint ventures with state- owned companies.

Australia is currently the seventh largest investor in Indonesia in terms of the number of projects, although investment is still largely concentrated in the mining sector.