I am pleased to announce that I will travel to Jakarta early next week to attend the inauguration of Dr Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono as President of Indonesia on 20 October.
I spoke to Dr Yudhoyono yesterday to pass on my congratulations following his victory in Indonesia's first direct Presidential elections. I look forward to meeting Dr Yudhoyono again, having met him previously when he was a senior Cabinet member of President Megawati Sukarnoputri's government. Dr Yudhoyono visited Canberra in October 2003 and represented his government at the first anniversary commemoration of the Bali tragedy in Bali last year.
I look forward to working closely with Dr Yudhoyono and his new Government to continue and extend the close cooperation between our two nations, particularly on counter-terrorism. Both nations have a clear commitment to cooperative, mutually beneficial engagement in combating the scourge of terrorism in our region. Of particular note has been the work of our police forces following the Bali tragedy and in the aftermath of the attack outside the Australian Embassy in Jakarta last month.
The relationship between Australia and Indonesia is a wide-ranging one encompassing political, trade, people-to-people links and cultural exchanges. I am sure that under Dr Yudhoyono, the relationship between our two countries will continue to strengthen.