E&OE……………………………………………………………………………………
JOURNALIST:
(inaudible)
PRIME MINISTER:
I think it’s an opportunity for countries in the region that are very directly affected, including of course Australia, and Indonesia and of course the United States and many others who have a renewed focus on it and I’ll be talking naturally to both President Bush and President Megawati. But it’s a regional issue, it’s a regional challenge and in the end though of course dealing with it is really effectively the sum total of what individual countries are willing to do about the terrorist threat, not only from abroad but also from within their own borders.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister, what will you be saying to President Megawati?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well one of the things I’ll be doing is thanking her for the cooperation that has so far existed, very strong cooperation between Australia and Indonesia and we will endeavor to find the people responsible for the Bali atrocity and we will also be talking about the longer term terrorist challenge and also the great importance of the bilateral relationship.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister, there are only two Australians who are involved in the siege in Moscow, have you had a briefing on that at all?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well my advice was that there was one, but I have been told that there has been contact made by the Australian diplomatic people in Moscow by mobile phone with the Australian concerned. Although naturally like anybody in that situation there’s a great deal of stress, the advice given at the time of that contact was that the person was okay, but I have not had the opportunity of getting a further briefing on that since arriving here.
JOURNALIST:
How much time do you expect to have with President Bush when he arrives here?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I don’t know, I mean we’ll be talking privately, he’s in and out in a day I think. But whatever’s necessary.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister, what sort of concrete measures will need to be taken to stop a repeat of the Bali tragedy?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I don’t think that’s the sort of thing that I’m going to do on a doorstop. A lot of things have to be done but this is not the circumstance to give a detailed run down on anti-terrorism measures.
JOURNALIST:
In the current climate, has APEC become (inaudible) and is it more like a war council, this year’s meeting?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well that’s not a description I would use, the economic underpinning of it is still the most important but of course instability caused by terrorism has an impact on economies. And Indonesia will suffer economically because of what happened in Bali, as I’ve said before the people who did that were no friends of Indonesia, they wanted to inflict damage on Indonesia as well as damage on others.
Thank you.
[ends]