Indonesia and Australia are working hard to improve their diplomaticties at the behest of Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono,following claims that Australian intelligence agents tapped the phonesof Indonesian leaders to gather information.
Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa on April 22 met with hisAustralian counterpart Julie Bishop to discuss the restoration of tiesbetween the two countries by crafting a draft memorandum ofunderstanding and a code of conduct.
The documents,which will provide clear guidelines on acceptable behaviour in theirpartnership, are seen as the second step of President Yudhoyono’ssix-step roadmap to improving the relations between the two countries inthe wake of the scandal which saw the phone of the President himselfmonitored.
The first step was realised throughmeetings of the foreign ministers and special envoys to discusssensitive issues in the bilateral ties.
Meeting withthe media after the talks, Minister Natalegawa revealed that thefundamental principle of the Indonesia-Australia diplomatic ties is theLombok Treaty – an agreement on a security cooperation framework whichstates that spying activities that could harm national interests are notpermitted.
Natalegawa said Indonesia and Australiawill establish ways to implement those commitments by organising regularmeetings between foreign ministers and intelligence officials.-VNA
Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa on April 22 met with hisAustralian counterpart Julie Bishop to discuss the restoration of tiesbetween the two countries by crafting a draft memorandum ofunderstanding and a code of conduct.
The documents,which will provide clear guidelines on acceptable behaviour in theirpartnership, are seen as the second step of President Yudhoyono’ssix-step roadmap to improving the relations between the two countries inthe wake of the scandal which saw the phone of the President himselfmonitored.
The first step was realised throughmeetings of the foreign ministers and special envoys to discusssensitive issues in the bilateral ties.
Meeting withthe media after the talks, Minister Natalegawa revealed that thefundamental principle of the Indonesia-Australia diplomatic ties is theLombok Treaty – an agreement on a security cooperation framework whichstates that spying activities that could harm national interests are notpermitted.
Natalegawa said Indonesia and Australiawill establish ways to implement those commitments by organising regularmeetings between foreign ministers and intelligence officials.-VNA
