JOINT COMMUNIQUÉ THE 1 ST INDONESIA-AUSTRALIA ANNUAL LEADERS MEETING BALI, 20 NOVEMBER 2011 Leaders met for the inaugural Indonesia-Australia Annual Leaders Meeting in Bali on 20 November 2011. The meeting marked an historic new phase in the relationship, based on a common interest in each other s progress, prosperity and security. We reaffirmed our commitment to a genuine comprehensive strategic partnership working with shared purpose bilaterally, regionally and globally. Our shared values of democracy, openness, mutual respect and tolerance underpin a new era of opportunity in the relationship. The Annual Leaders meeting is the key mechanism for strengthening the partnership at the leaders level, as well as providing strategic direction to respond to contemporary regional and global challenges. We underlined the importance of holding regular joint meetings of Foreign and Defence Ministers, committing to hold an inaugural 2 + 2 meeting in the first quarter of 2012. Australia congratulated Indonesia for its strong leadership in advancing regional security, stability and prosperity as ASEAN chair and host of the East Asia Summit (EAS) and the ASEAN Regional Forum. We jointly welcomed the inaugural participation of the United States and Russia in the EAS, agreeing on the importance of EAS members having free and frank discussions on emerging security issues. We also welcomed the adoption of the Declaration of the East Asia Summit on the Principles for Mutually Beneficial Relations in the 6th East Asia Summit in Bali, to guide interaction between EAS members. The South Pacific region is an area of shared interest and we are committed to jointly working there, through existing mechanisms, including the Pacific Islands Forum, on the promotion of democracy, good governance, human rights, the rule of law and capacity building. Being neighbouring countries and fellow democracies, Indonesia and Australia have a shared interest in the promotion of democracy that also recognizes and respects the different states of democracy in the region. Indonesia looks forward and welcomes Australia s continuing support for the promotion of democracy in the region and in this regard welcomes its participation at the ministerial level at the fourth Bali Democracy Forum in Bali in December 2011. We noted with great concern the weakening global economic prospects. We welcomed the sense of urgency from the global community to address the renewed challenges facing the global economy. We endorsed the important steps taken by G20 leaders earlier this month to address risks to the global economy, and the resolution by APEC
leaders in Honolulu to support strong, sustained and balanced growth both regionally and globally. We supported the Cannes Action Plan for Growth and Jobs, which outlines the role all countries can play in ensuring the stability of the global economy and financial system, and in particular the need for macroeconomic policies to support recovery and strengthen the foundations for growth and jobs. We committed to remain vigilant and ready to take bold actions in coordination with other countries and the IMF. APEC remains the pre-eminent regional economic and trade forum. We welcomed the strong outcomes from the APEC Leaders meeting in Honolulu. Agreement to support G20 goals on global growth was a significant step, especially the call to resist protectionism and take fresh approaches to advance the Doha round of WTO negotiations. APEC leaders commitment to support green growth will also help wider regional efforts on energy, the environment, and climate change. Our cooperation on traditional and non-traditional security issues has never been stronger, underpinned by the Lombok Treaty and its Plan of Action. We reaffirmed our commitments under the Treaty, including to one another s sovereignty and territorial integrity. Australia was pleased to announce it would provide support to a new Indonesian Armed Forces Peacekeeping centre. Reinforcing our comprehensive security cooperation, both leaders directed senior officials of both countries under the Security Cooperation Consultation Group to review existing cooperation, and to coordinate and set priorities under the Plan of Action of the Lombok Treaty. Both leaders also further encouraged the finalisation of the Defense Arrangement as a basis for an enhanced defense cooperation between the two countries. Indonesian and Australian law enforcement agencies continue to work tirelessly and successfully to combat terrorism, dismantle terrorist networks and prevent transnational crime, including through intelligence sharing, information exchange and capacity building. We welcomed the conclusion of the Arrangement on Cooperation in Preventing and Combating Transnational Crime and committed to continue our close collaboration on legal issues, including mutual legal assistance, transfer of prisoners arrangements, extradition, capacity building and development of legislation. The strength of the relationship in the legal sector is also evidenced by the good outcomes achieved over the past few years including the establishment of the Senior Legal Officials Consultative Group. As Co-Chairs of the Bali Process, we will continue to pursue regional solutions to people smuggling. Australia appreciated Indonesia s support at the fourth Bali Regional Ministerial Conference for a Regional Cooperation Framework in the Asia-Pacific region. Both leaders welcomed the operationalisation of the Framework including to
explore the possibility of establishing a regional support office to assist the co-chairs. Australia further welcomed Indonesia s criminalization of people smuggling and was pleased to announce that it would provide three high speed intercept vessels to the Indonesian National Police to counter transnational crime, including people smuggling, in Indonesian waters. We underlined the importance of ensuring appropriate treatment of Indonesian crew detained in Australia suspected of being involved in people smuggling activities, especially minors. We agreed to strengthen collaboration between our police to verify the age of people smuggling crew, ensuring that minors are returned to Indonesia as soon as possible. In this regard, we welcomed the First Indonesia-Australia Bilateral Consular Consultation held in Perth on 30 June 2011 and recognized that the bilateral consular consultation is the appropriate mechanism to address issues of common concern on consular protection for nationals of both countries. We are committed to enhancing disaster management and mitigation capabilities through the Australia-Indonesia Facility for Disaster Reduction. Australia thanked Indonesia for its provision of US$1 million to assist efforts to rehabilitate flood affected areas in Queensland in February this year, noting the package of support highlighted the strong friendship between the two countries. In keeping with our tradition of assisting one another when natural disasters strike, Australia announced it will provide up to four C-130 aircraft to boost Indonesia s capacity to deliver humanitarian assistance. We are working side by side to contribute to global responses to climate change. We reaffirmed this partnership, including our cooperation through the International Forest Carbon Initiative to help reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries (REDD), and agreed to collaborate closely in the lead up to COP17 in Durban. We agreed on the importance of all major emitters pledging to significant mitigation targets at Durban. Great potential exists to promote trade and investment links between our two economies the two largest in the region. We welcomed the entry into force of the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement (AANZFTA) and committed to commence negotiations on an Indonesia-Australia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement at the earliest opportunity. We agreed to encourage an increase in bilateral trade to US$15 billion by 2015. The Australia-Indonesia Development Partnership continues to deliver strong results to meet Indonesia s development needs in education, infrastructure, health and poverty alleviation. Indonesia welcomed Australia s plans to increase substantially the size of its aid program over the next four years.
Food security is a growing challenge, with recent widespread flooding throughout our region devastating food crops. We recognised the role of our aid partnership in helping Indonesia to address food security concerns and agreed to implement a new $112 million agricultural initiative to improve the livelihoods of Indonesian farmers. We agreed to work together to enhance animal welfare outcomes and contribute to ensuring a sustainable trade for the live cattle industry. On the issue of palm oil, Indonesia encourages Australian industries to purchase and use sustainable palm oil from Indonesia. Strong and diverse links between Indonesians and Australians at all levels bring vitality and strength to our friendship. We committed to strengthen people-to-people links, welcoming the success of the recent inaugural Indonesia-Australia Dialogue that discussed and identified possible methods to promote and enhance people-to-people contacts. The leaders encouraged that such an event be conducted on a regular basis focusing on specific issues of common concern. Education is a key to our partnership. We agreed to seek to increase the number of students in each other s countries and noted the importance of scholarships and awards for doing this, including the Endeavour Student Exchange Awards, the Australian Consortium for In-Country Indonesia Studies, the Darmasiswa Scholarship and the Indonesian Arts and Culture Scholarship. The successful Australia-Indonesia Building Relations through Intercultural Dialogue and Growing Engagement (BRIDGE) Project was developed to strengthen cultural understanding between both countries. Funding announced in 2011 of $3.6 million over five years will create more than 80 new school partnerships and involve more than 3500 Australian and Indonesian teachers. Australia is the principal destination for Indonesian students. Indonesia welcomed Australia s recent allocation of some $1 million to three pilot projects to specifically develop the skills and language proficiency of Indonesian language teachers and improve non-indonesian language teachers understanding and knowledge of Indonesia. Australia is a leading provider of scholarships for Indonesian students to undertake study, research and professional development in Australia. Australia was pleased to announce the introduction of the Indonesia Australia Knowledge Sharing pilot project to build management capacity in Indonesian university executives. In this historic first meeting, we recommitted to enhance our comprehensive strategic partnership across all spheres of activity. Our shared vision and challenge is to create two countries, deeply familiar with one another and working closely for our mutual good and that of our region. We call on all Indonesians and Australians to reach out to each other as neighbours and friends; to celebrate the differences in our cultures; to embrace
the political freedoms and values we hold in common; and to realise the full potential of our joint partnership and shared future. ----------------------------------------