I will be travelling to Bali, Indonesia, on Friday 27 July to meet President Yudhoyono and open the Australia-Bali Memorial Eye Centre. I will also open the new Australian Consulate, which serves over 100,000 Australians who visit Bali each year.
Indonesia is a very important partner for Australia not least because of our close proximity, strong political, security and economic ties and extensive people-to-people links.
I look forward to reviewing with President Yudhoyono the full range of our existing cooperative activities, including in important areas such as security, counter-terrorism and transnational crime.
I also anticipate discussing the recommendation by trade ministers to conduct a feasibility study into a bilateral Free Trade Agreement. Our trading relationship is an important one: Indonesia ranks 10th on our list of export destinations. I am keen to explore how it can be further strengthened.
The Australia-Bali Memorial Eye Centre is part of the Bali memorial assistance measures I announced in 2003. It will provide quality eye care for Indonesians affected by blindness.