Bapak Vice President, Professors, Excellencies.
It is an honour for me to be here in the presence of the Vice President to formally launch this important venture.
As all of us know, not least the Vice President, there have been many Indonesians come to Australia to study over the years.
I am determined to ensure that there are more Australians going to Indonesia to study.
As time goes by, I would like to see more Indonesian tourists in Australia and more Australian students in Indonesia.
I would like to see more complementarity in our relationship as time goes by.
This new centre is an important way to deepen the academic and cultural exchange between our two countries.
It is an important way to deepen the mutual understanding between our two countries.
This is vitally important for the future of our two countries. Certainly, it is vitally important for Australia.
Indonesia is a very, very important relationship – in the broad, probably Australia’s single most important relationship by virtue of Indonesia’s size, proximity and massive potential to be not just a superpower of Asia, but a democratic superpower of Asia.
So, I think this is an important development for both our countries.
I am very honoured to be involved in this with my friend, Bapak Vice President, who has had such a deep personal experience of education here in Australia.
[ends]