PRESIDENT SUSILO BAMBANG YUDHOYONO (unofficial translation): In the name of Allah. HE Prime Minister Julia Gillard. Dear journalists that I love. Today Indonesia has the honour of a visit by the Australian Prime Minister, the first female Australian Prime Minister in the history of Australian politics.
We have conducted a very productive bilateral meeting, full of enthusiasm to boost relations and cooperation between the two nations and countries.
Australia-Indonesia relations and cooperation have been cordial and continue to progress and we have agreed to enhance the cooperation into the future. We discussed a number of bilateral issues as well as regional and international issues. The bilateral issues include cooperation on law enforcement and security. They include cooperation on how to handle people smuggling. We have also agreed to extend the cooperation on tackling the transnational crimes, including counter terrorism.
We also raised the need to forge cooperation on tackling the Montara oil spill in order to prevent environmental damage and the need to provide compensation to those in need.
In the fields of economy, investment and trade, I would like to inform you that there has been good development. Last year the total value of trade stood at US$6.7 billion. This year, in the first semester alone it has reached US$4.4 billion or an increase by 22 per cent. That is why for both countries' interest, we agree to think about the establishment of a Comprehensive Economic Partnership between the two countries so that the excellent trade achievement can be further enhanced. Comprehensive Economics Partnership is not just trade but also investment and other fields. Australia's investments in Indonesia are also good. Last year they stood at US$4.8 billion. I would like to correct that the US$4.8 billion figure is an accumulative figure up to 2009.
We also discussed cooperation in the agricultural sector in order to boost agricultural production and productivity in Indonesia.
We also discussed people-to-people cooperation especially in the education sector. And I thank Australia for its large assistance in the Indonesian education sector to date.
I would also like to invite the Australian Prime Minister to boost cooperation in the youth, sport and tourism sectors. And cooperation on climate change sector has been going well, particularly in forest management and we agreed to continue our cooperation.
On the regional and international issues, ladies and gentlemen, we exchanged ideas about the importance of developing the right regional architecture in the Asia Pacific region.
Indonesia is of the opinion that we must maintain the Asia Pacific region's peace, stability and security. The region should also have good economic growth. People to people contact should also be developed. These are the pillars of the regional architecture we are developing for the future.
I also thank Australia for its active participation in the Bali Democracy Forum. I hope (Australia) will continue to take part in this important forum to exchange experiences on democracy particularly with Asian countries.
Another issue is the Pacific Islands Forum, which is also important, and I thank Australia for its constructive participation in the Pacific Islands Forum. Indonesia wishes to forge better ties with southwest Pacific countries.
Australia and Indonesia are also members of the G-20 and APEC . We have agreed to continue our collaboration and forge cooperation on these two forums. Next week we will meet again in Seoul and Yokohama to attend the G-20 and APEC. And I'm glad Insya Allah that at the G-20 meeting in Korea development issues will be given adequate attention.
That's all I wish to convey. Once again, our meeting was very productive and I would like to offer the floor to HE Prime Minister Julia Gillard to give remarks to the press.
PRIME MINISTER JULIA GILLARD: Thank you very much, Mr President. Thank you firstly for your invitation to me to visit your country. I wanted to come here early in my period as Prime Minister to demonstrate my personal commitment to making sure that our already strong, strategic, relationship continues to grow.
Today I have had the opportunity to say to the President that the Australian people pass their condolences to him and to the people of Indonesia on the loss of life and damage occasioned by the recent natural disasters that have impacted on the Indonesian people and I know that is taking so much of the President's time. I was pleased to be able to advise Mr President today that we will be increasing our assistance for recovery by $1.1 million taking it to $2.1 million. We are two nations that have had strong partnerships in the past and each of us has faced natural disasters. As someone who comes from the state of Victoria can I personally thank the President and the people of Indonesia for their support when Victoria faced devastating bushfires.
Today we have had the opportunity to talk through a comprehensive range of bilateral, regional and global issues. I have indicated to the President that our relationship has been strong and continuous over the past decade, that his address in March to the Australian Parliament was a watershed moment in that relationship, taking it to a new level and making it even stronger. I'm pleased that today, as our relationship strengthens, we have been able to agree to our two countries entering a comprehensive economic partnership - one that not only comprehends further trade liberalisation but deals with the full range of economic issues that bring our countries together including investment, business-to-business links and capacity building. I think that is a good development for our two countries.
I have also spoken to the President today about Australia's gratitude to him and to Indonesia for their work on counter terrorism. Remarkable progress has been achieved in this nation and we very much thank the President and the Indonesian people for that. We know that it has not been without cost and particularly, there have been some police and security force members who have lost their lives in this effort. We are very grateful for it.
I've also indicated to the President in our discussions today that my firm belief is that the future of our two countries will be determined largely by what is happening in the schools of each of our nations today. Consequently, I am pleased to be able to announce that the Australian Government will invest half a billion dollars over five years in further assistance for school education in Indonesia. This will enable the construction of 2,000 new schools and it will enable 1,500 current Islamic schools to be brought up to accreditation standard to meet the national standards of Indonesia. I'm very pleased to be able to make that announcement today.
We also have talked about the regional questions that we face - questions of transnational crime, including questions of people smuggling. I have thanked the President for the work that has been done here in Indonesia to address people smuggling and thanked him for his personal support of criminalising people smuggling in Indonesia. We have agreed to continue dialogue on the question of addressing people smuggling, on regional solutions, a regional protection framework and processing centre through the Bali process in which we both have leadership roles. I thank him for that indication.
We've also had the opportunity today to talk about the new regional architecture with the East Asia Summit and with the US and Russia becoming full members of that summit from next year on. That summit, of course, will be held here in Indonesia under the President's leadership. We very much look forward to those discussions. This is a significant change for the region and brings greater US engagement into the region, which we have discussed today.
We have also discussed the prospects and outlooks for the forthcoming meetings of the G20 and APEC, which we will both be attending. I have indicated to the President that we are pleased of the progress being made at the G20 on matters associated with the economy and global financial crisis response, including the work that is being done by finance ministers on IMF reform. I've indicated to the President that I very much support his idea to bring to the G20 further work on development questions for discussion at the forthcoming meeting.
I have, as Australian Prime Minister, spoken today to the President about matters involving some Australians - most particularly, Ms Schapelle Corby - and indicated the Australian Government's support for her clemency plea and also indicated to the President that whilst there are further legal proceedings in train for a number of Australians known as the Bali nine, should those legal proceedings finalise with Australian citizens facing the death penalty, then at that point, the Australian Government would indicate its support for clemency.
Overall, can I thank the President and his ministers for the dialogue we've had today. It has been comprehensive. It is part of a good friendship. It is part of a strategic friendship and it is part of building on that friendship for the future.
PRESIDENT YUDHOYONO: Thank you Madame Prime Minister. I will now allow journalists to ask questions.
JOURNALIST: Hello, this is Adam Gartrell from Australian Associated Press. This is a question for you President Yudhoyono. You have said in the past that you will not give clemency to drug traffickers. Given that, is there any chance you will support Schapelle Corby's clemency application and when will you make a final decision on it?
PRESIDENT YUDHOYONO: The reduction of sentence is part of our legal system so on many occasions I did give a reduction of sentence for those from Indonesia or foreign origins. Certainly, there must be prudent consideration, especially to serious crimes. With the case of Ms Corby, based on our system, there are a number of reductions of sentence that have already been provided. During the bilateral discussion with Prime Minister Gillard we did discuss how we can develop a kind of framework to deal with similar cases applied in Australia and also applied in Indonesia. What we have experienced is the extradition case involving our two countries. We have what we call mutual legal assistance and we might want to discuss the sentence and transfer, something that might be developed for future cooperation. This is what we need to develop - balancing what we consider as justice must be upheld and also to give consideration to the issue of humanitarian aspects. I'm quite optimistic that we'll be able to develop such a framework.
JOURNALIST: I have question for the Prime Minister. We know the Indonesian students partake in education programs in Australia, so are there any plans from the Indonesian Government and Australian Government for visa exemption for Indonesian students if they want to study in Australia?
PRIME MINISTER GILLARD: You are right, a large number of Indonesian students come to Australia to study and we very much welcome that. We have a quite comprehensive scholarship program because we do want to be able to support Indonesian students to come to our country and study. We will continue to have a visa arrangement for students who want to come and study in our country. They are very welcome to come to Australia and study in our higher education institutions. As a government we have been working with state governments to make sure that we do provide better support to students when they come away from home to study in our country and that there is welfare and other support for them and we will continue to build on that approach.
JOURNALIST: Hello my name is Naomi Woodley from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Mr President, a question to you. I'm interested in your views for the government's proposal for a regional processing centre for asylum seekers in East Timor. Do you think it will work? Will it help to stop people smuggling and are you concerned that Indonesia might have to contribute funds to that proposal?
PRESIDENT YUDHOYONO: We did discuss how to best develop an effective cooperation to deal with the people smuggling and trafficking process. We have already two frameworks in place - one is the Bali Process, to deal with the issue at the regional level and at the bilateral level we have the Bali-Lombok Treaty. I have proposed that early next year we could sit and discuss within the framework of the Bali Process how to best and efficiently deal with the issue of people smuggling and trafficking of persons. On the issue of a regional processing centre, the forum would be the best place to discuss this, especially involving regional countries including Timor Leste, Indonesia and Australia to ensure that the regional processing centre is a proper way to improve the effectiveness of our regional cooperation in dealing with people smuggling. . Indonesia is open to that but we have to discuss this in depth to ensure once again that this is a solution to our regional problems.
JOURNALIST: I would like to ask Prime Minister Gillard the first question, how will your government and Indonesia handle the flood of immigration so far? Indonesia quite recently became a temporary state for illegal persons from Iran and Afghanistan I am wondering whether both countries have set up joint cooperation on it? Second question, is your government really serious about building a detention centre in East Timor for asylum seekers?
PRESIDENT YUDHOYONO: Madame, if I could further clarify, he stresses on the involvement of all sides in this connection - the countries of origin, the countries of transit, the countries of destination - to be part of the offer of regional cooperation
PRIME MINISTER GILLARD: Thank you very much, thank you for the question. Can I say I agree that for us to work through comprehensively questions of people smuggling we do need to be working with countries of origin, countries of transit and countries of destination. Our dialogue is able to comprehend all of those matters. On the question of the regional protection framework and the regional processing centre, Australia will be working with Indonesia and other countries in our region through the Bali Process, as the President has indicated, and through bilateral discussions to work through a protection framework and processing arrangements which would undercut the business model of people smugglers, would take out of the hands of people smugglers the very product that they sell because there would be no reason for someone to keep engaging in movement around the region because processing arrangements would be the same. And there would be collaboration across the region on a protection framework and with a processing centre - so that matter has been the subject, as the President has indicated, of discussion today and there will be further discussion through the Bali Process as the President has indicated.