Joint Statements with the President of the Republic of Indonesia
10 February 2020
PRIME MINISTER: Once again it's my great pleasure to welcome President Widodo, His Excellency here to Australia, this is I understand his fourth visit to Australia and his first visit to our national capital. And with the incredibly visionary decision he has made regarding the establishment of a new capital for Indonesia, I'm sure he'll be taking a few photos around the capital, maybe going back with some of the design ideas of Walter Burley Griffin. Perhaps.
But it is wonderful to have you here, Your Excellency, on behalf of the Australian people. I also want to thank you and all the people of Indonesia for your very kind expressions of support over this very difficult Black Summer that we've had in Australia over the bushfires. Your personal support, the provision of practical assistance through Indonesian personnel who are today, I'm advised, actually assisting with floods, from fires to floods over the course of this summer, and Indonesia is standing there right with us, as always. And we thank you very, very, very much.
I also want to thank you for taking up our invitation to be here when I joined you for your inauguration. And I congratulate you on that again. And I'm so pleased that we've been able to come here today as we are realizing so many aspects of our shared vision for the Indo-Pacific. I want to commend you for the leadership that you have shown in first capturing that Indo-Pacific vision and championing that vision throughout ASEAN and throughout the Indo-Pacific region. And Australia is very much a fellow traveller when it comes to our shared outlook on the Indo-Pacific region and seeing its potential, its economic potential, its people to people potential, the breaking down of barriers that exist across our wonderful region, the strategic and defence and security cooperation and dealing with the many significant environmental and climate challenges that we have and we share and the wonderful oceans of which we have responsibility in our respective nations and throughout the region.
You come here today having secured parliamentary support for the IA-CEPA and has been passed here in Australia through our parliament. And later today you will be addressing our parliament and we look forward to that very much. And this honour has been given to a small number of global leaders. And I'm so pleased that you'll be numbered amongst those in our honouring of you and having you here today.
Today, we have discussed many issues as part of our growing partnership, our growing agenda between our two nations, 100 day action plan for the implementation of IA-CEPA that will see this agreement as it comes into effect ramped up and the momentum established at all levels. A mutually beneficial arrangement, one that sees the integration of our economies for the strong growth that we will see over the next decade and beyond. Indonesia will be one of the star economies of the world over the next 10 to 20 years. And this arrangement, this mutually beneficial arrangement, will ensure that our economies are linked for this exciting period of growth in the years ahead. Today, we have agreed to include new elements as part of this implementation. We are pleased that the, our Home Affairs Minister here in Australia will be engaging with his Indonesian counterpart to proceed to look at how we can simplify and streamline the issues of entry into Australia. We also agreed to reconsider and look at the issues of travel advice in Indonesia, particularly for those areas most frequented by Australian visitors. Indonesia is a very large country with a very large population, and we need to ensure that we have this flexibility that respects and understands that. And we thank the President and his Ministers for raising these issues with us. We have also agreed to establish an energy dialogue between Australia and Indonesia. We have much to share, both in understanding of the challenges and as Indonesia is going through an accelerated development path, how we can ensure that the fuel sources of the future are very much part of Indonesia's development and of Australia's. And we will be working together on science and research and technology and sharing our view of the future energy sources for both of our countries. And we look forward to that, that partnership for energy in, in Australia and Indonesia, but how that might more broadly lead our region. Monash University will be establishing the first foreign campus in Indonesia, under this agreement. And that is a very good example of how this is a two way street. Not only that, but the Treasurer today reinforced the opportunity for Australian pension funds, superannuation funds to be looking at the opportunities that exist in Indonesia as they do in many other countries around the world. And we see that investment partnership, a key part of how the IA-CEPA will be realised.
On the issues of strategic security in our region Indonesia is a leader and a wonderful partner to Australia. Whether it's in maritime cooperation or working together on international peacekeeping, which we will now be seeking to do. This is just a further layer in what is already a very, very deep relationship. And when it comes to the South China Sea, we share our commitment to sovereignty, stability and respect for the rule of international law. We have also discussed today the many challenges around counter terrorism, foreign terrorist fighters and countering foreign influence. These are all issues we work closely together on and have longstanding partnerships and share expertise and share a view of the world.
And finally, we had the opportunity to talk through issues of the coronavirus and the measures we are taking in concert and the information we're sharing to contain the impact of the coronavirus in Indonesia and Australia. And we will continue to work closely with our medical advisers and the other arrangements that we have to ensure that we can both effectively carry out our responsibilities to our peoples to keep the health and well-being of our peoples in the highest possible order. And so, as you can see, it has been a very wide ranging conversation today, a very wide ranging discussion. It wasn't all these serious issues. Yesterday, the President and I were able to join the Governor-General on a roo-tour of Yarralumla, as we drove around the grounds and the most senior ranking tourism official in the country, the Governor-General, gave us a very kind guided tour. But these are the things where we have had the opportunity at a private dinner last night and also in our one on one meetings this morning to further develop the relationship.
I want to thank President Widodo for his personal friendship, his kind regards, most recently in terms of the passing of my father and his personal commitment to this relationship and his personal commitment to the many issues that we've discussed today. And his good hearing on those very sensitive issues I want to thank him very much for. And with that, I'll pass on to his excellency to make some statements. And after that, we'll be departing because the President will be joining us in the House of Representative chamber for his most important address, Your Excellency.
PRESIDENT WIDODO: [remarks delivered via translator] Your Excellency, Prime Minister Scott Morrison, at the outset I would like to once again convey our sincere thanks for the warm reception to myself and the delegation. My visit to Australia this time marks a new beginning of a new era in the Indonesia- Australia relations and a plan of action to implement a comprehensive strategy partnership for 2020-2024 has been completed.
This means in the next five years, our bilateral relations will be better directed. Ratification of the Indonesia Australia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, or the IA-CEPA has been done by both countries. This means going forward, economic relations between the two countries will grow and bring more tangible benefits for the people. Indonesia encourages the 100 day IA-CEPA implementation programme to be carried out. Among others, organising an Australia business week, led by the Australian Trade Minister in Indonesia, and a visit by a number of Australian major private sectors to Indonesia, and cooperation to fund Indonesian infrastructure projects as well as cooperation in education, to support human resources development, as mentioned by the Prime Minister earlier with regards to the plan to open Monash University campus in Indonesia. And through this IA-CEPA Indonesia hopes Australia can become an important partner with us on infrastructure investment as well as on education. And in addition to IA-CEPA, we also discussed cooperation in the Indo-Pacific context. And we are hopeful that stability, peace and prosperity can be equally created and maintained in the Indo-Pacific region. We also agreed to enhance cooperation in the South Pacific, among others, focusing on ocean related issues and climate change. That shall conclude my statement. Thank you.
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you all very much.
