Indonesian President Joko Widodo and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison (Photo: AFP/VNA) Sydney (VNA) – Indonesian and Australian leaders have affirmed theimportance of promoting economic and trade cooperation between the twocountries, and their joint efforts to ensure regional stability and mitigatethe negative impacts of natural disasters as a consequence of climate change.
The two sides agreed on the above-mentioned issues during a visit to Australiaby Indonesian President Joko Widodo from February 8-10.
During the visit, leaders of the two countries issueda joint statement affirming that they will strengthen the bilateral cooperationin five pillars on the basis of the comprehensive strategic partnership.
President Widodo and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison expressed their concern about the situation in theEast Sea due to militarization activities and changing the status quo. They emphasizedthe importance of abiding to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)1982 in resolving disputes at sea, noting that the negotiations between ASEANand China on a Code of Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (COC) should followinternational law without harming the interests of a third party or othercountries.
The two sides have announced a 100-day Action Plan to implement the Indonesia-Australia Comprehensive Economic PartnershipAgreement (IA-CEPA), which was signed by Widodo and Morrison on February 10;and a bilateral cooperation plan forthe 2020-2024 period within the framework of comprehensive strategicpartnership.
According to the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs andTrade, from April 2020, about 99percent of imports and exports between the two countries will be exempted fromtax or entitled to tax reduction in accordance with the agreement./.
VNA
