Media Release
2 December 2025
Australia’s Chief Statistician, Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), Dr David Gruen and Indonesia’s Chief Statistician Statistics Indonesia (BPS), Amalia Adininggar Widyasanti signed a new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in Bali yesterday.
The MoU signing, witnessed by Australian Chargé d'Affaires to Indonesia, Gita Kamath, marks 30 years of collaboration between ABS and BPS. The Australian Embassy is supporting the BPS–ABS partnership through the Australia-Indonesia Partnership for Economic Development (Prospera).
Dr Gruen emphasised the value and strength of the decades-long BPS–ABS partnership. “This event provides a great opportunity to celebrate the enduring, close partnership between BPS and ABS, which has evolved over the past 30 years since the first MoU was signed in 1995,” he said. “The length and depth of our partnership is a testament to its strength and the mutual benefit it provides to each organisation.”
Indonesia’s Chief Statistician, Ibu Widyasanti said, ”This week we agreed to take this collaboration to a higher level - not only strengthening our partnership but also fostering friendship. Through stronger relationships, we build trust and mutual respect, enabling both parties to grow together and support each other in achieving the vision of becoming a world-class national statistical organisation (NSO) in the future.”
“This collaboration supports more data-driven policy and ensures Australia and Indonesia will be working even more closely on cross-border statistical issues where we have shared interests,” said Chargé d'Affaires Kamath.
Following the MoU signing, Dr Gruen and Ibu Widyasanti opened leadership training for over 60 leaders from BPS headquarters and sub-national offices. They urged leaders to shape an effective, modern national statistics system in Indonesia so it can continue to support evidence-based policies for strong, sustainable and inclusive growth and poverty reduction.
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