AUSTRALIA tL
PRIME MINISTER
FOR PRESS21 March 1979
AUSTRALIAN-ASEAN MINISTERIAL
MEET ING
The Prime Minister has welcomed the joint statement issued
following the Australian-ASEAN Ministerial meeting in Djakarta.
" Clearly the meeting has been most successful", the Prime Minister
said. " Useful progress has been made on a number of points.
" Bilateral discussions will now be held on cheaper fares between
Australia and each ASEAN nation.
" Over the next few weeks, more detailed work will be carried
out by officials on stopover fares and access by ASEAN carriers
to the Australia/ UK route.
" The links between AustraLlia and the ASEAN countries continue
as close and strong as ever", the Prime Minister said.
000 , f Li:*~ 1
ASEAN AUSTRALIA MINISTERIAL MEETING ON CIVIL AVIATION
Following is text of statement released at joint ASEAN-Australia
Ministerial Conference 1600 hours Jakarta time 21 March 1979:-
JOINT PRESS RELEASE
The ASEAN-Australia Ministerial Meeting on the Australian International
Civil Aviation Policy ( ICAP) was held on 20-21 March 1979 in Jakarta.
The meeting was officially opened by H. E. Prob. Dr. Mochtar
Kusumaatmadja, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Indonesia and
Chairman of the ASEAN Standing Committee.
The meeting was attended by the ASEAN ministers, namely:
H. E. Mr. Roesmin Nurjadin, Minister of Communications of Indonesia,
H. E. Dato Seri Dr. Mahathir Bin Mohamad, Deputy Prime Minister/ Minister
for Trade and Industry of Malaysia, H. E. Gerardo P. Sicat, Minister
of Economic Planning of the Philippines, H. E. Mr. Ong Teng Cheong,
Minister for Communications of Singapore, H. E. Goh Chok Tong,
Minister for Trade and Industry of Singapore and H. E. General
Surakit Mayalarp, Minister of Communications of Thailand,
and on the Australian side, by H. E. Mr. P. J. Nixon, Minister of
Transport of Australia and H. E. Mr. A. S. Peacock, Minister of
Foreign Affairs of Australia, and their respective delegations.
The meeting was chaired by H. E. Dato Seri Dr. Mahathir Bin Mohamad,
Leader of the ASEAN delegation.
H. E. Datuk Ali Bin Abdullah, Secretary-General of the ASEAN
Secretariat was also present.
The ASEAN Ministers reiterated the ASEAN common stand adopted
at the Seventh ASEAN Economic Ministers Meeting on 12-13 December
1978 and the special ASEAN Economic Ministers Meeting on 22 February
1979. The Australian ministers outlined the philosophy and objectives
of the new Australian International Civil Aviation Policy. They
explained particularly its objective of providing the
lowest possible fares for international travellers. They emphasised
that it was the policy and intention of the Australian Government
that the ASEAN countries should share equitably in the benefits
of the new scheme.
The Ministers addressed the principles set out in the ASEAN joint
statement of 22 February and agreed courses of action that would be
taken on these.
2
With regard to participation by ASEAN carriers in the Australia-UK/
Europe low fare scheme, Ministers agreed that further studies
were needed on this subject.
Concerning the level of a stopover fare on the Australia-UK/ Europe
route, Ministers agreed that further work was also required on
this matter with a view to proposals being developed on an appropriate
fare level.
Ministers directed officials to proceed quickly with further
work on these two matters and to report back to their respective
Ministers within a month.
Ministers agreed in principle on ranges of cheap fares proposed by
the ASEAN Ministers for travel between Australia and ASEAN
countries. They further agreed that these could form the basis
for bilateral negotiations between Australia and each of the ASEAN
countries. Ministers confirmed that such bilateral discussions
would take place without any way affecting the ASEAN collective
approach to this subject.
Ministers agreed that the ASEAN countries would develop proposals
which they would put to Australia in intra-ASEAN stopover fares
to be used in conjunction with the low cost fares between
Australia and the ASEAN region.
The meeting was held in a cordial and constructive atmosphere,
in keeping with the long established tradition of close and
cooperative links between the ASEAN countries and Australia.