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New dawn for RI-Oz relations
VVIP buyers: President Joko âJokowiâ Widodo (center right) and Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull (center left) visit the Tanah Abang traditional market in Jakarta, on Thursday
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span class="inline inline-center">VVIP buyers: President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo (center right) and Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull (center left) visit the Tanah Abang traditional market in Jakarta, on Thursday.(JP/Seto Wardhana)
A new dawn in Australian and Indonesian relations seemed to be on the horizon after President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo and visiting Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull rebooted the vital diplomatic relationship between the two neighboring countries on Thursday.
A wide-ranging bilateral meeting saw the two leaders discuss a range of issues from bilateral trade and investment to political and security threats.
The two leaders avoided controversies related to the death penalty and the thorny subject of 'boat people', according to Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi. These two problems have been the main cause of tension between the two countries over the last couple of years.
'We set up a positive tone and we're ready to move one,' Retno said.
Turnbull was in Jakarta for his first overseas trip since taking over the reigns of power in September from his predecessor Tony Abbott, whose time in office was marked by strained relations between Australia and Indonesia.
Jokowi and Turnbull did not touch on Indonesia's rescinded plan to grant free visas to Australian tourists.
Earlier this year, the plan to waive the visa requirement for Australian tourists was dropped amid amplifying tensions in the Jakarta-Canberra diplomatic relationship surrounding Indonesia's execution of two Australian drug traffickers despite repeated calls for clemency from Canberra.
Retno said the government had not changed its position on the visa exemption issue. Australian tourists comprise roughly 10 percent of foreign visitors to Indonesia every year.
The two leaders held a joint press conference after their meeting. 'In the discussion, I emphasized that Indonesia is open for infrastructure investment. I also invited Australian investors to participate in these projects,' Jokowi said.
'I invited the Prime Minister to encourage Australian investors to invest in this particular field because we have resources in East Nusa Tenggara and West Nusa Tenggara.'
The State Palace noted that Australian investment in Indonesia reached roughly US$647 million in 2014 while Indonesian investment in Australia reached about $13 million.
Indonesia is Australia's tenth largest overall trading partner with two-way trade reaching almost $11 billion. Indonesia is also the largest export market for Australian wheat. In 2014, Australian wheat exports to Indonesian were valued at $917 million. Indonesia is also a major export destination for live cattle and sugar from Australian farmers.
Jokowi, who has been pushing the development of Indonesia's digital economy, also invited Turnbull to encourage Australian businessmen to invest in the country's digital economic sector.
Indonesia's digital sector is estimated to grow into Southeast Asia's largest by 2020. Last year, Indonesia's digital market was valued at around $12 billion.
During the press conference, Turnbull said he believed that Jokowi understood deeply the importance of establishing good infrastructure and noted that Australians also recognized that infrastructure development in Indonesia was crucial to developing and deepening relations between the two countries.
'Fundamentally, we need to make sure that there are projects that are ready for investment. That is absolutely critical and we talked about how we can do that,' the Australian leader added.
'There are also great opportunities for growing and breeding cattle in Indonesia as well and so we can see terrific opportunities for co-investment, Indonesia into Australia and Australia into Indonesia, right across the whole product cycle of the beef industry,' the Prime Minister added.
Turnbull also said he looked forward to the upcoming Indonesia-Australia Business Week to be held in Jakarta next week.
Australian Minister for Trade and Investment Andrew Robb will lead a delegation of 344 businesspeople at the event.
Turnbull also expressed his support for Indonesia's membership in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).
'We would welcome Indonesia becoming a part of the TPP. And if Indonesia chooses to apply to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership, we would support that application, absolutely.'
Strengthening cooperation in combating radicalism and terrorism were also on the table during the bilateral meeting. Jokowi invited Australia to exchange information and intelligence in the fight against terrorism.
Turnbull said he was impressed with Indonesia's three-fold approach in dealing with religious fanaticism, which included security and law enforcement measures, a religious approach and a social approach.
During the bilateral meeting, Jokowi expressed his appreciation for Australia's assistance to Indonesia in extinguishing the forest fires that have rampaged across the archipelago over the last few months. Jokowi also said that he welcomed Canberra's plan to open up a consulate general in Makassar, South Sulawesi.
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