Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa says he believes the visit by US President Barack Obama to Indonesia next month will further improve the already strong relations between the two nations.
"The best is yet to come," Marty told a luncheon Tuesday organized by the Jakarta Foreign Correspondents Club.
"I'm happy with where we are now," he said, adding relations had been on the up since George W. Bush's time at the White House.
"We can do much better still. The visit will help put Indonesia on the radar of the United States."
Marty pointed out Indonesia's lack of democratic credentials prior to 1998 had been a major impediment in nurturing closer ties with the United States.
Indonesian officials say Obama will use his visit to Indonesia in March to strengthen relations with Jakarta and also to show his daughters around the places where he grew up during his four years here as a child.
Officials in Jakarta and Washington also say Obama and President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono will sign a comprehensive bilateral partnership agreement.
Obama's visit is expected to increase the momentum in modernizing ties, with both countries extending them beyond more than just one or two key issues, Marty said.
Beyond bilateral relations, he said, the United States had been in a listening mode as it sought to refine its policy in East Asia and further engage with countries in the region.
The minister said the democratization process in Indonesia over the last 11 years had allowed the country to make democracy one of the three development pillars of its foreign policy, along with prosperity and justice.
Indonesia will cooperate with the US and other countries to help with capacity-building programs to enhance democracy in the country, Marty went on, but would also be proactively promoting the values and principles of democracy through the sharing of experiences.
He cited the Bali Forum for Peace and Democracy, which brings together Asia-Pacific countries at an annual meeting to discuss their respective issues.
Marty said Indonesia planned to open up diplomatic relations with more countries as part of what President Yudhoyono coined "1,000 friends and zero enemies", starting with 10 this year to add to the existing 119 Indonesian missions around the world.
"We'll eventually open diplomatic relations with all countries in the world, except you know who," he said in an apparent reference to Israel.
Marty was quick to add Indonesia would not open relations with "three or four other countries", again declining to name them.
One sticking point with foreign journalists in Indonesia is the lack of access to Papua, which is technically still off-limits to them for "security reasons".
Marty promised to look into this, while encouraging Jakarta-based foreign journalists to go through the process of applying for permits form his ministry, noting that only one out of 16 applicants was rejected in 2008, and also one out of 14 in 2009.
"Go ahead and apply," he said. "I don't want you to assume the worst, that bad things happen there just because you have no access to it.
"I assure you that's not the case."
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