RI-Australia ties still 'long way to go'

RI-Australia ties still 'long way to go'

Samantha Brown, Agence France-Presse, Bangkok

Indonesia and Australia have a long way to go in building a strong relationship but they have established a firm foundation on which to proceed, Indonesian Minister of Foreign Affairs Hassan Wirayuda said Monday.

Speaking after Indonesian President Megawati Soekarnoputri and Australian Prime Minister John Howard met on the sidelines of an APEC summit here, Hassan said the neighbors needed to work harder to boost their relations.

"The meeting was very, very friendly," he said, brushing aside the issue of Megawati failing to meet Howard in Bali for this month's anniversary of the nightclub bombings which left 202 dead, 88 of them Australians.

"Both sides appreciated the progress made in bilateral relations. Of course, there is still a long way to go for (the) neighbors (but) we see the potential of Indonesia and Australia working closely together," he added.

"Indeed what we have done in the past three years is a good asset for us to move forward."

Howard said that the two leaders agreed their bilateral relationship was continuing to "grow stronger and better".

"As far as Australia is concerned, the cooperation that has arisen between Australia and Indonesia... in the last year has been more important than any ringing declaration," he said when asked whether the two countries would push to have a statement on terror included in an APEC statement after the summit.

Australia and Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, have had checkered relations in the past but their security forces worked closely in the wake of the devastating bombing on Bali a year ago.

"The war on terrorism will be won as much if not more through intelligence and police cooperation as it will through other actions. And that's very true of our part of the world," Howard said.

Hassan said the Australian premier had expressed his thanks to Megawati on their cooperation to date.

"Australia again, in this case Prime Minister John Howard, expressed his appreciation on close cooperation between our police," he said.

"And for that matter the presence of Prime Minister John Howard in Bali and the medals that he presented to the three police generals of Indonesia is an expression of appreciation for what we have done."

Hassan said the two countries now needed to look to the future.

"What we need I think is a more forward-looking approach as neighbors... as neighbors it will be a challenge for us to work harder to develop true friendly relations," he said.

When asked if that meant Australia had to change its current approach to dealing with Jakarta, he responded: "I don't want to tell Australia what it should do but we know, each other, how to promote and enhance relations."

Both leaders attended the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit here that began here Monday, along with 19 others including US President George W. Bush.