JAKARTA (AFP) — Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd promised Friday a "new phase of cooperation" with Indonesia on issues such as disaster response and the environment during his first state visit to Jakarta.
Rudd praised the "very strong friendship" between the two neighbours after he met President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and senior ministers at the presidential palace.
But while security dominated the relationship in the years after the 2002 Bali bombings and remains a core issue, Rudd outlined a range of other concerns which he said would shape the partnership in future.
These ranged from deforestation and climate change to the evolution of regional institutions to cope with the challenges of the coming Asian century.
"Australia and Indonesia are neighbours through geographic circumstance but we are friends through active national choice, and this is a very good friendship," he told reporters after the talks.
Rudd said he and Yudhoyono had agreed to broaden security cooperation to fight regional terror groups that remained their "common enemy."
But the prime minister emphasised other issues of mutual concern such as climate change and disaster response in the aftermath of the Myanmar and China catastrophes.
"We do not know where a natural disaster will hit but between us we believe we can take a good and strong proposal" for a regional disaster-response system to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting next year, Rudd said.
The two leaders also discussed Rudd's plans for an Asia-Pacific Community to be set up by 2020 including the major economies of India, China, India and the United States.
The new bloc would not infringe on national sovereignty or replace existing structures, but had to be capable of addressing security and political issues in addition to the mainly economic focus of ASEAN and APEC, Rudd said.
Later Friday he visited the Jakarta headquarters of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and met its chief, Surin Pitsuwan, who welcomed the plan as the "natural progression" for the region.
Rudd attended the Bali climate change conference in December but this was his first state visit to Indonesia since he defeated conservative prime minister John Howard in elections in November.
He flew into Jakarta late Thursday on the second leg of an Asian trip which started in Japan on the weekend. He will travel to Sumatra's Aceh province on Saturday to visit areas devastated by the 2004 tsunami.
His office released a statement later Friday announcing Australia would strengthen its five-year development partnership with Indonesia up to an expected 2.5 billion dollars (2.4 billion US) between 2009 and 2013.
After their talks Rudd and Yudhoyono signed an agreement to link rainforest protection to emerging global carbon markets through the use of Australian technology to track carbon stored in Indonesia's jungles.
"There is real potential for Australia and Indonesia to lead the world here. We share a goal of having avoided deforestation recognised in future climate change agreements," Rudd told business leaders in a speech.
He said Australia and Indonesia would take the plan to a G8 summit in the northern Japanese resort of Toyako next month which is expected to focus on climate change.
Rudd broke with the policies of the Howard government and ratified the Kyoto Protocol on fighting global warming in one of his first acts after taking power.
Yudhoyono thanked Rudd for Australia's extensive aid programmes which are expected to reach some two billion dollars over the next five years.
He also welcomed the strong growth of direct Australian investment.
"Last year it rose by 73 percent and I'm looking forward to further investment from Australian partners," he said.
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