Saturday, January 17, 2009

Australia, Indonesia sign defence deal

The chief of the Australian Defence Force, Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, has met with his Indonesian counterpart in Jakarta to sign a joint statement on defence cooperation.

The statement is an outcome of the Indonesian Defence Minister's visit to Australia and was agreed with Federal Minister for Defence Joel Fitzgibbon in March last year.

The statement reaffirms both countries' commitment to taking a cooperative approach to security issues under the Lombok Treaty.

"Australia is committed to working with Indonesia as a partner to build a secure and peaceful region," Air Chief Marshal Houston said.

"The signing of the joint statement demonstrates the strength of the relationship between our two countries and provides a clear direction for future cooperation."

The joint statement focuses Australia's defence engagement with Indonesia in areas of counter-terrorism, maritime security, intelligence, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief and peacekeeping.

The statement also outlines activities for future defence engagement, including military training and postgraduate education, study visits and exchanges, combined exercises and maritime surveillance and patrol. (abc.net)

No comments:

Post a Comment