I

ndonesia secured on Wednesday a A$14.5 million pledge from Australia to improve its transportation safety and security standards.

The signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) pledging the money was attended by Indonesia’s Transportation Minister Fredy Numberi and Australia’s Infrastructure and Transport Minister Anthony Albanese in Jakarta.

“Australia will provide A$14.5 million for the next four years, starting in July 2010,” Fredy Numberi said, adding that the MoU was an annex to an arrangement between the two countries called the Indonesia Transport Safety Assistance Package.

Australia granted A$24 million in 2007 in a similar program, which helped finance 700 Indonesians to join a training program on aviation safety. Albanese said the new funds would finance training programs to produce transportation safety inspectors and accident inspectors, as well as joint search and rescue drills.

Later in the day, Albanese launched a book highlighting Australia’s support for Indonesia in addressing serious road safety issues. About 40,000 people are killed on Indonesia’s roads each year and the number of deaths is expected to climb with road use.

“If nothing is done it is expected Indonesian road fatalities will soon climb above 50,000 every year — that’s an extraordinary number and comes at a huge human and economic cost,” Albanese said.

“Together we can work towards making Indonesia’s roads safer, saving lives and cutting the economic toll at the same time.”