Indo-Aust deal lauded

‘Bright moment’ as countries deepen ties

INDONESIA and Australia yesterday signed a long-awaited trade deal after months of diplomatic tension over Canberra’s contentious plan to move its embassy to Jerusalem.

Indonesian trade minister Enggartiasto Lukita and his Australian counterpart Simon Birmingham wrapped up the multibillion-dollar agreement in Jakarta, nine years after negotiations first started.

The pact will include improved access for Australian cattle and sheep farmers to Indonesia’s 260 million people, while Australian universities, health providers and miners will also benefit from easier entry to South East Asia’s biggest economy.

Greater access to the Australian market is expected to spur Indonesia’s automotive and textile industries, and boost exports of timber, electronics and medicinal goods.

Bilateral trade was worth $US11.7 billion in 2017, but Indonesia is only Australia’s 13th-largest trading partner and the economic relationship has been viewed as underdone.

Both ministers touted the deal as indicative of deepening ties between the two countries, which have occasionally butted heads on foreign policy issues, including Australia’s hardline policy on asylum seekers.

Mr Birmingham said the deal marked a “new chapter of co-operation”.

“The signing of the Indonesia-Australia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement brings our two nations closer together than ever before,” Mr Birmingham said. Mr Lukita said the signing had the potential to transform the economy of both countries.

“Today is definitely the brightest moment of the Indonesia-Australia relationship,” he said. The deal has been in negotiation since 2010 and was expected to be signed before the end of last year, but it stalled when Prime Minister Scott Morrison proposed the relocation of Australia’s embassy to Jerusalem.

Mr Morrison first floated the shift in October, ahead of a critical by-election in a Sydney suburb with a sizeable Jewish population. Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim nation, was angered by the plan.

The agreement will eventually see the elimination of all Australian trade tariffs, while 94 per cent of Indonesian duties will be gradually eliminated.