Half of Australia's Cabinet in RI to iron out differences

Half of Australia's Cabinet in RI to iron out differences

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Indonesia and Australia expressed common concern over the
worsening nuclear standoff on the Korean Peninsula and considered
measures to deal with the matter.

Visiting Australian foreign minister Alexander Downer said on
Monday after meeting with President Megawati Soekarnoputri that
concerted efforts were needed to end the dispute.

"We mutually expressed our common concern about the situation
that is progressively getting worse on the peninsula," Downer
said after the meeting at the President's residence on Jl. Teuku
Umar in Central Jakarta.

"The Indonesian foreign minister and I will seek ways we might
be able to work together to address the problem in North Korea,"
he said.

Indonesian foreign minister Hassan Wirayuda agreed with his
counterpart's statement, saying that Australia had sent a team to
Pyongyang before Indonesia dispatched special envoy Nana Sutresna
to the country.

"Australia shares a common concern with us regarding the
situation in North Korea. We will look for measures that we can
cooperate on in addressing the problem," Hassan said.

The North Korean standoff with the United States regarding the
possible development of nuclear weapons by Pyongyang could become
the world's next crisis situation after Iraq.

Washington has refused to negotiate with North Korea until it
has disbanded its nuclear program, a demand that Pyongyang has
not bowed to.

The latest developments in the situation were joint military
exercises between the U.S. and South Korea, and the deployment of
American bombers to Guam.

Indonesia has attempted to facilitate a dialog between the two
sides, with Megawati offering Jakarta's services during a meeting
with North Korean number two Kim Yong-nam on the sidelines of the
Non-Aligned Movement summit in Kuala Lumpur last month.

Hassan earlier said that so far the two sides had yet to see
the importance of dialog, leaving Indonesia with no choice but to
wait for further developments.

Downer is leading a group of seven Australian ministers to the
Australia-Indonesian Ministerial Forum, slated to start on
Tuesday. The forum is aimed at strengthening bilateral relations
between the two countries and ironing out their differences over
Iraq.

"We have made it clear that confrontation in Iraq is not
confrontation against Islam, but against Iraq's failure to
cooperate with the UN to disarm itself," Downer said.

He said Australia would use the forum to express its hope for
cooperation with Indonesia in many fields, particularly in the
economic sector.

Downer said the presence of 400 Australian companies here
indicated Indonesia's importance to the Australian business
community.

The two governments, he said, are ready to engage in broader
economic cooperation, including in agriculture, fisheries and
tourism.

Downer also conveyed the Australian government's and people's
appreciation for the Indonesian authorities investigation of the
Oct. 12 Bali bombings and the cooperation Jakarta has showed in
curbing people smuggling.

Hassan underlined that the presence of almost half of the
Australian Cabinet here for the forum signaled Canberra's
intention to improve the often rocky relations between the two
countries, despite their many differences.

The ministerial meeting was preceded by a meeting on Monday of
senior officials from the two countries. During the meeting,
officials discussed technical cooperation in 13 fields, including
trade, investment, fisheries, agriculture and education.