"The strategic relations between the two countries are often constrained due to the asylum seeker and wiretapping issues. The meeting of the two heads of government is expected to normalize cooperation," Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa said here on Tuesday.
He told Commission I of the House of Representatives (DPR) the Palace had previously informed that the meeting between Yudhoyono and Tony Abbott would be informal on the sidelines of the Quranic Reading contest in Batam.
The Batam meet will be the first in the highest forum of the two countries since the revelation last year of wiretapping by the Australian Intelligence Agency of Indonesian high state officials.
The relations between the two countries became more and more heated fueled by the anti-immigrant program of Abbott. In the past several months, Australia expelled asylum seekers who were leaving for that country on ships and forced them to return to Indonesia.
According to Marty, the two issues should be settled before the relations between the two countries returned to normal, and he firmly stated that Australia was the party responsible for that.
"For us, it is clear that it is Australia that caused this problem to emerge. Regarding the asylum seekers, this issue should have united us (RI and Australia) but Australias expulsion policy of asylum seekers ships separated us," the Indonesian foreign minister said.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is scheduled to meet with Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott when they visit the Indonesian island of Batam.
The meeting will be a follow up to the telephonic talks between the two leaders on the sideline of the Open Government Partnership Conference held in Bali on May 6, 2014, Teuku Faizasyah, President Yudhoyonos special aide for international affairs, said in a press release on Tuesday.
"On June 5, 2014, President Yudhoyono will receive Singapore President Tony Tan Kem Yang during his working visit to Batam. President Yudhoyono will hold a banquet in honor of President Tony Tan," he said.
While in Batam, President Tony Tan will also hold a get-together of businessmen from Singapore investing in Indonesia.
"The Indonesia-Australia bilateral relations based on a comprehensive partnership can be enhanced if the two nations are able to restore mutual trust and confidence by referring to the code of conduct," he said.
Meanwhile, the meeting between President Yudhoyono and President Tony Tan is expected to strengthen high-level cooperation, such as the annual leaders retreat, he added.
The two leaders are expected to encourage the increasingly closer relations and cooperation between the two neighboring nations, he noted.
(A014/INE)
EDITED BY INE
(T.SYS/B/KR-BSR/A014)
Editor: Aditia Maruli Radja
Copyright © ANTARA 2014
