"Indonesia lauded PM Albanese's visit to Indonesia some time ago. We hoped the relations between the two countries would continue to improve," he noted after receiving a visit from Australian Ambassador to Indonesia, Penny Williams, at the Bina Graha Building, Jakarta, on Thursday.
He later affirmed that bilateral relations between Indonesia and Australia would continue to improve, both through business and cultural activities.
"Political dynamics in both countries are normal, leadership changes, and so on, but the axis must not change. The two countries must improve bilateral relations, especially through strengthening people-to-people relations both through business and culture," Moeldoko stated.
Earlier, PM Albanese visited Indonesia and met with President Joko Widodo on June 5-7 to discuss bilateral relations between the two countries.
Albanese's arrival to Indonesia marked his first bilateral visit since being sworn in as prime minister of Australia on May 23, 2022, as well as signaled the importance of Indonesia's position for Australia.
Australia is an important partner for Indonesia in various fields, including in health and food security. Australia is committed to working with Indonesia to tackle the foot and mouth disease (FMD) epidemic that has hit livestock, such as cattle, buffalo, and goats, in Indonesia.
Meanwhile, in terms of the food security issue, Moeldoko invited Australia to cooperate in developing the sorghum crop industry.
"Amid the threat of a global food crisis, Indonesia has begun to develop several alternative foods, one of which is sorghum in East Nusa Tenggara (NTT). It would be great if Australia had experience in this matter and could develop sorghum with Indonesia," Moeldoko stated.
He remarked that parts of northern Australia, such as Darwin, had geographical and climatic conditions similar to NTT. Hence, Indonesia and Australia had the potential to build cooperation in developing sorghum grain crops.
Ambassador Williams lauded the efforts of the Indonesian Government to continue to establish and improve bilateral relations with Australia.
"I understand that Indonesia is looking for alternative food sources and trying to find opportunities to expand its commodity. I will certainly tell them (the expert community and industry in Australia) about sorghum," Ambassador Williams remarked.
Williams also highlighted the Australian Government's efforts to continue to improve bilateral cooperative relations with Indonesia. This was shown by PM Albanese's commitment to attend the G20 summit in November 2022, regardless of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
"PM Albanese is committed to attending the G20 Summit. He has conveyed it directly to President Joko Widodo," Williams added.
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Translator: Indra Arief P, Resinta S
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
Copyright © ANTARA 2022
