RI wants to hear more from Rudd on Asia-Pacific bloc idea

Tony Hotland ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Sat, 06/07/2008 11:24 AM  |  Headlines

Indonesia looks forward to welcoming Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd here next week and to hearing more of his recent proposal of an Asia-Pacific community, the Foreign Ministry said Friday.

Rudd is slated to be in Indonesia from June 12 to June 14, marking his first official bilateral visit since coming to power last November. It will be his second visit overall, after attending the UN climate change conference last December in Bali.

"The government is interested in Prime Minister Rudd's proposal and we are keen to study it further. We're looking forward to hearing more about the idea directly from him during his visit," the Foreign Ministry's new spokesman Teuku Faizasyah said.

The ministry noted that the process of dialogue and cooperation among countries in the region had been evolving on various fronts with the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) since 1989 and the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) since 1993.

In his speech Wednesday at an Asia Society Australasia Centre gathering in Sydney, Rudd said he wanted to see an Asia-Pacific bloc by 2020 similar to the European Union to tackle the growing challenges in the region that he felt couldn't be addressed by any of the existing regional mechanisms.

China, one of Asia's superpowers, has thrown its weight behind the proposal.

During the visit, a number of bilateral and international issues are to be raised, with the implementation of the Lombok Treaty likely to be at the top of the agenda.

The treaty came into effect in February following the exchange of diplomatic notes by Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda and his Australian counterpart Stephen Smith in Perth.

The draft was signed by both governments in 2006, and was ratified in late 2007.

The treaty covers a number of aspects of Indonesia-Australia cooperation, including in defense, law enforcement, counter-terrorism, intelligence and maritime security.

The treaty also specifies that both parties will respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of each other and will not support any activities that constitute a threat, such as separatism, to those matters.

Relations between the two countries strained last year after Canberra granted provisional refugee status to Papuan asylum seekers, causing Jakarta to summon its ambassador home in protest.

In 2005, Indonesia and Australia signed a strategic partnership declaration.

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