Marty also said three parties needed to be involved in the handling of the problem, namely the countries of origin, transit and destination countries.Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The Indonesian and Australian governments have agreed to cooperate in dealing with the people smuggling problem that have been bugging both countries over the past 10 years.
"At a meeting earlier today with Australian Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd, the Australian government agreed to cooperate in the handling of the people smuggling problem," Indonesian Foreign Affairs Minister Marty Natalegawa said at a press conference here Monday.
Marty said he and Rudd also discussed ways in which the two governments would cooperate and break the human smuggling chain.
"We need to identify and describe the flow of human smuggling," said Marty.
Marty also said three parties needed to be involved in the handling of the problem, namely the countries of origin, transit and destination countries.
"As an archipelagic country, Indonesia is often used as a transit before they enter the destination country," he said.
The human smuggling problem was previously discussed at the Bali Process meeting last year but extra efforts needed to be made to break the smuggling pattern that stretched from the origin country to the transit country and the destination country, in this case Australia.
Australian Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd said Indonesian-Australian cooperation was needed to narrow the space for the smugglers.
"The cooperation covers the scope of the security forces. This problem is a fairly complex one, no country in the world should underestimate the gravity of this human smuggling problem," Rudd said.
Indonesia which is geographically adjacent to Australia is often used as a transit point by emigrants from troubled countries in central Asia to reach Australia.(*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
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