Jokowi is to meet with Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison for an annual leaders’ meeting in Canberra on Sunday and Monday, Foreign Ministry acting spokesperson Teuku Faizasyah told reporters in Jakarta on Thursday.

“Unlike the previous annual leaders’ meetings, this year it will be marked by the commemoration of the 70-year anniversary of diplomatic relations between Australia and Indonesia,” he told reporters.

Faizasyah said the two leaders would discuss, in depth, the Indonesia-Australia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (IA-CEPA), which was inked last year after years of talks and was ratified by the House of Representatives on Thursday.

“The ratification is one thing that we have been waiting for. [...] Hopefully once it is completed, we can begin working on [...] the low-hanging fruit [to] implement the agreement,” he said prior to the announcement of the CEPA’s ratification in Jakarta.

The IA-CEPA promises improved access for Australian cattle and sheep farmers to Indonesia’s market of 260 million people, while greater access to the Australian market is expected to help Indonesia’s automotive and textile industries and boost exports of timber, electronics and pharmaceuticals.

Talks on the IA-CEPA began in 2010 but stalled owing to strained diplomatic relations brought about by a wiretapping scandal. They were revived again in earnest in March 2016 as the previous tensions dissipated.

During the meeting over the weekend, the two sides will launch a 2020-2024 plan of action to implement the agreement. There will also be a small-scale business forum held on the sidelines of the event, Faizasyah said.

The two leaders last met in 2018 when Morrison visited Indonesia for his first overseas visit as prime minister. Both skipped the 2019 agenda on account of the elections in their respective countries, the ministry official said.

The long-overdue visit will be held amid warming relations between the neighbors, against the backdrop of the newly ratified CEPA and Indonesian support in the mitigation of the ongoing bushfires in Australia.

Indonesia deployed 38 personnel to assist from the Indonesian Army’s Engineering Directorate, Marine Corps, the Indonesian Air Force facility and construction service and the Indonesian Military (TNI) Health Center.

Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne said it was reassuring to have such close friends in Australia’s time of need.

“Indonesia’s support to the Australian people is deeply appreciated and demonstrates the strong bond between our countries,” she said, responding to the deployment.

During a national coordination meeting on land and forest fires on Thursday, President Jokowi boasted that the emergency response to forest fires was more effective in Indonesia because of the infrastructure in place at the village level, noting the special role village supervisory non-commissioned officers (Babinsa) and security and public order advisers (Bhabinkamtibmas) took on as extensions of the TNI and the National Police.

“Look at Australia, they don’t have Babinsa and Babinkambtibmas. They only have forest rangers, which we also have here. That is our advantage,” he said at the meeting, encouraging first responders to keep up their good work.

Separately, the Foreign Ministry’s director for East Asia and the Pacific, Santo Darmosumarto, said the assistance package to Australia built on existing cooperation on disaster response.

“It indeed needs to be developed further, but that’s nothing new. We’ve cooperated since the ‘70s when we helped Australia [with] Cyclone Tracy, as well as when there was a tsunami,” he said.

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