Jakarta Globe – AFP, Aug 28, 2014
Nusa Dua. Indonesia and Australia on Thursday signed an agreement aimed at drawing a line under a damaging espionage row and paving the way for the resumption of full cooperation on issues such as defense.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, right, shakes hand with Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop, left, during their meeting in Nusa Dua, Bali on Aug. 28, 2014. (EPA Photo/Made Nagi) |
Nusa Dua. Indonesia and Australia on Thursday signed an agreement aimed at drawing a line under a damaging espionage row and paving the way for the resumption of full cooperation on issues such as defense.
Ties
between the neighbors sank to their lowest point in years in November after
reports that Australian spies tried to tap the phones of President Susilo
Bambang Yudhoyono and his inner circle.
Jakarta
recalled its ambassador from Canberra and suspended cooperation in several
areas over the incident, including efforts to stop people-smuggling boats
reaching Australia.
Yudhoyono
called for a code of conduct to govern behavior and, after months of talks on
the issue, Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop and her Indonesian
counterpart Marty Natalegawa on Thursday signed an agreement.
With
Yudhoyono looking on, the pair inked the deal, named the “Joint Understanding
on a Code of Conduct between the Republic of Indonesia and Australia”, at a
ceremony on the Indonesian resort island of Bali.
In the
agreement, Indonesia and Australia pledge to not use their intelligence
agencies to harm one another and to increase cooperation at a time fears are
growing about the threat posed by home-grown Islamic militants returning from
Middle East conflicts.
“We are
back to where we should have been in terms of Indonesia-Australia relations,”
Natalegawa said, adding that he believed cooperation would be “even more
enhanced in the future in front of us”.
Bishop
said: “Despite some recent challenges in our relationship — as there can be
between neighbors, even strategic partners as close as Australia and Indonesia
— we have proven that our two countries can keep working together across the
board.”
She added
the agreement was “the most effective way to defeat those who would do harm to
the people of Australia and Indonesia”.
Extremist
concerns
Both
countries have expressed alarm that home-grown extremists are heading in
increasing numbers to fight with violent groups such as the Islamic State
overseas, and have stepped up counter terrorism efforts.
Yudhoyono
said he hoped relations would be strengthened by the accord: “I am hoping,
personally, that we could go back to our strong relations and effective
cooperation.”
Allegations
that Australian spies tried to tap the phones of Yudhoyono, his wife and
several top officials in 2009 sparked one of the worst diplomatic crises
between the two strategic allies in years.
Reports at
the time said that Australia’s electronic intelligence agency tracked
Yudhoyono’s activity on his mobile phone for 15 days in August 2009, when
Labor’s Kevin Rudd was prime minister.
The list of
tracking targets also included his wife Ani, the foreign affairs spokesman, the
security minister and the information minister.
Jakarta
responded furiously to the reports, which were based on documents leaked by US
intelligence fugitive Edward Snowden, by suspending bilateral cooperation in
key areas.
Ties were
further strained by Australia’s policy of pushing people-smuggling boats
carrying asylum-seekers back to Indonesia.
Indonesia
and Australia are close strategic and trading partners and have traditionally
worked together in many areas, including on anti-terrorism initiatives and on
the sensitive issue of would-be refugees.
Agence France-Presse
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