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RI 'anticipates' Aussie boat talks in upcoming meeting
The government has prepared itself to discuss crucial issues, including people smuggling, when President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Australia Prime Minister-elect Tony Abbott have a bilateral meeting in Jakarta on Sept
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T
he government has prepared itself to discuss crucial issues, including people smuggling, when President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Australia Prime Minister-elect Tony Abbott have a bilateral meeting in Jakarta on Sept. 30.
Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa said on Monday that Yudhoyono and Abbott would talk about important issues concerning the interests of both nations and the region in the first foreign state visit by the new Australian prime minister.
Presidential spokesman for foreign affairs Teuku Faizasyah said the government had been aware of Abbott's 'controversial' plans regarding boat people delivered during his campaign.
'It is normal for experts to be alerted after Abbott won the election and to ask if the issues would be discussed in the upcoming bilateral meeting,' he said.
Faizasyah said Indonesia's position remained firm. 'The solution for the boat people issue must be reached through a regional and bilateral approach, not a unilateral one.'
Earlier in the day in Australia, Abbott said that his contentious new policy on asylum seekers that included turning back their boats to Indonesia would begin on Wednesday when his government was sworn in.
'As for my trip to Indonesia, I want it to happen as soon as possible,' Abbott said as quoted by the Associated Press. 'In many respects, this is our most important single relationship.'
After meeting with his Indonesian counterpart, Abbott is scheduled to extend his visit to Bali where he and Yudhoyono are slated to join other state leaders to attend the APEC Summit.
Abbott led his conservative coalition to an overwhelming election victory on Sept. 7, partly on a promise to stop an increasing number of asylum seekers from reaching Australian shores aboard Indonesian fishing boats.
His new approach to the problem includes forcing the Australian navy to turn boats back to Indonesia and buying boats from Indonesian fishing villages to prevent them from falling into the hands of people smugglers.
The latter in particular created controversy in both Australia and Indonesia, with one expert calling it 'a humiliation to Indonesia as a sovereign nation'.
Marty, however, declined to comment when asked whether Indonesia's position on Abbott's 'controversial' boat people policies remained firm.
'We'll see,' the minister said at the State Palace and smiled when asked to comment on whether the government had been preparing strategies on the issues.
