Indonesia, Australia agree to boost bilateral ties
Indonesia and Australia on Thursday agreed to boost their bilateral ties not only in terms of government-to-government but also the people-to-people.
In a dialog titled "the Citizen Diplomats", scholars, former officials, observers and youngsters of both countries said that through the dialog, they pledged to move forward to higher level.
"It is not about the government's role but also how to cooperate and address challenges, bilaterally, regionally and internationally," said Dr. Rizal Sukma, executive director of Indonesia's Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a public policy research institution dedicated to analysis and policy impact.
He also said that there was a consensus on strong endorsement from almost all participants to continue such dialog in the future and to encourage youngsters to participate through all kind of technology development.
"There are a lot of venues to encourage young participations. We stress public participation to enhance opportunity for closer bilateral ties," said Sukma.
John McCarthy, one of Australia's most distinguished diplomats and former Australian Ambassador to Indonesia, said that the dialog did not only discuss common issues such as business, security and others but more related to people connection.
"Indonesia is different country compared to several years ago and Australia feels that we have to increase our relationship. Actually, we manage the relationship well," he said.
Prof. Tim Lindsey, chairman of Australia Indonesia Institute and director of Asian Law Center at the University of Melbourne said that Indonesia holds a crucial role for Australia in its effort to gain prosperity. "Our former Primer Minister Paul Keating once has said that Indonesia is the key of our future as it is the biggest country in Southeast Asia and one of the closest neighbors of Australia. Since then, the sentence has been our guidance in managing relationship with Indonesia," said Lindsey.
Editor: Chen Zhi
English.news.cn 2011-10-06 19:10:11 FeedbackPrintRSS
JAKARTA, Oct. 6 (Xinhua)
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