Ambassador Leads Embassy Visit to NTT

Australia’s Ambassador to Indonesia, Bill Farmer, will this week lead a delegation of officials to East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) to strengthen cooperation with the region and inspect a number of Australian aid projects.

Farmer said Australia enjoyed excellent working links with officials in the province and was committed to supporting the economic development of the region.

“Australia has a special interest in working closely with the government and people of NTT,” the Ambassador said. “As a close neighbour, we share many common interests, as shown by our increasingly strong collaboration in combating transnational crime along our border.”

“A message I want to underline during my visit is that a stable and prosperous NTT economy is better for both Indonesia and Australia. This is the driving force behind our work in the province,” he said.

The Ambassador and accompanying officials are scheduled to meet senior local officials in Kupang, visit a number of aid projects and open the new AusAID (“ANTARA” program) office, that will manage the Australian Government’s development work in the region.

While in Kupang, Farmer will also discuss the ongoing cooperation between the two countries to inform coastal communities throughout eastern Indonesia of the effects of illegal fishing.

Schools Construction

On Thursday morning, the Ambassador will visit the village of Nunkurus to inaugurate the local secondary school Australia has built, and to welcome new students.

The school is one of 2,000 schools the Australian Government is building or renovating across 20 provinces under an IDR2.5 trillion program which aims to create 330,000 new secondary school places by mid-2009. Through this program, Australia is working in partnership with the Indonesian Government to help achieve its target of providing a minimum of nine years’ basic education for all Indonesian students.

Before the school at Nunkurus was built, many students graduating from primary school in the village were unable to continue their education. The nearest secondary school was more than 5km away and there was no public transport.

Australia has funded the construction of close to 100 schools in NTT, with 56 of those schools, including this one at Nunkurus, already completed.

Fishing

While in NTT, officials from the Embassy and the Indonesian Department of Marine Affairs and Fisheries (DKP) will together visit a number of coastal communities in the province as part of joint efforts to combat the regional problem of illegal fishing.

The visit also reflects the decision of the Australian and Indonesian governments to run an awareness-raising campaign throughout eastern Indonesia on the impacts and consequences of fishing illegally in Australian waters.

The outreach visit will involve open discussions with members of coastal fishing communities in the area and discussions with grass-roots community leaders and local government officials.

Ambassador Farmer said the joint campaign by the Indonesian and Australian governments against illegal fishing helped coastal communities understand how to manage their activities in line with the existing regulations in both countries. The shared objective, looking to the future, was no more illegal fishing and therefore no need for any further arrests.

“We need to work together to ensure the sustainability of fisheries resources on both sides of the border,” Farmer said. “Illegal fishing is a common problem that costs the Australian and Indonesian economies millions of dollars each year and serves to deplete substantially our fish stocks, which are an important source of food and a key trade commodity.”

“Through these joint outreach visits, we also want to inform Indonesian fishing communities of the serious consequences of illegal fishing in Australia’s northern waters,” the Ambassador said.

In June 2006, Australia’s Parliament passed legislation allowing for jail terms of up to three years for illegal fishers caught in Australia’s territorial waters, in addition to fines of up to IDR 6.1 billion.

Recognising the regional dimension of the issue, Australia and Indonesia hosted a regional Ministerial Meeting in Bali in May to discuss measures to address the shared problems of illegal fishing and sustainable management of fisheries resources.

The 10 countries attending the forum, co-chaired by Indonesia and Australia, agreed on a common, collaborative approach to promote responsible fishing practices and to combat illegal fishing.

Coordinated Maritime Patrols

Australian Customs and Indonesian Fisheries officials last month took part in groundbreaking coordinated patrols along our maritime border in an exercise aimed at boosting capacity to prevent illegal fishing and other transnational crimes in the region. (See www.indonesia.embassy.gov.au for more details.)

In 2006, 359 Indonesian-flagged vessels were apprehended for fishing illegally in Australian waters, with 279 Indonesian boats apprehended in 2005. The number has been much reduced in 2007, a welcome development.

The Ambassador will be accompanied to NTT by a delegation of officials from a number of Australian Government agencies, including fisheries, transport, development cooperation, customs, police, immigration, defence and economic affairs.

Further information:
John Williams (Counsellor, Public Affairs) ph. (021) 2550 5290, mob. 0812 105 3989