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Aust-Indonesia ties ready to ‘bounce back’

ABC

ABC

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has met with her Indonesian counterpart Retno Marsudi for the first time since the Bali Nine executions.

Australian convicted drug smugglers Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan were sent to the firing squad in April, the first Australians killed by firing squad in Indonesia.

That triggered the first recall of Australia’s ambassador from Jakarta, and the suspension of ministerial contact with Indonesia.

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Ms Bishop insisted her relationship with Retno Marsudi remained close throughout the unprecedented circumstances of the past six months.

“It will be an opportunity to reassess our relationship, commit to a strong, ongoing friendship, to focus on some of the challenges we’ve faced recently,” she told reporters ahead of the Kuala Lumpur meeting on Wednesday night.

AAP

Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi (left) meets with Julie Bishop in Malaysia. Photo: AAP

“The relationship has always been strong, we do face challenges from time to time.

“It’s how we respond to them, how we recover from them, that I think is important.”

On the long list of discussion items will be trade, with Australia now looking to China and other markets after Indonesia’s decision to set a live cattle import quota of only 50,000 head this quarter, down from 250,000.

Indonesia’s trade minister said this could be revised up, but hasn’t given further details.

Also to be discussed was co-operation on counter-terrorism, intelligence sharing and preventing radicalisation.

The meeting was also be the first since claims Australian authorities paid cash to an asylum boat crew to turn back to Indonesian waters.

The Abbott Government’s Operation Sovereign Borders was already an irritant to Indonesia, but the cash claims infuriated some officials who said if true, they amounted to bribery.

Ms Retno sought and received a letter from Ms Bishop over the incident, but her office said it didn’t include a satisfactory explanation.

Ms Bishop’s Malaysia agenda included bilateral talks with 12 nations, and the ASEAN-Australia Ministerial Meeting.

At the talks, she urged all nations to halt reclamation work in the South China Sea, and expressed Australia’s support for a criminal tribunal to bring to justice those responsible for the downing of the MH17 over Ukraine last year.

Talks with Cambodia discussed the resettlement of four refugees under a deal with Australia, including their accommodation and plans to continue the arrangement.

AAP        

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