REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- Indonesian Foreign Affairs Minister Marty Natalegawa meets with his visiting Australian counterpart Julie Bishop, here on Thursday at noon, to discuss ways to repair relations between both countries amidst spying allegations.
The ongoing closed-door meeting is at the Indonesian Foreign Affairs Ministry office building.
Indonesian-Australian bilateral relations have been strained lately due to a leaked document stating that in 2009, Australia had wiretapped the private cellphones of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, First Lady Ani Yudhoyono and several Indonesian top ministers.
In response to the report, Indonesia suspended bilateral cooperation with Australia, including exchange of intelligence data, joint military exercises and joint cooperation to tackle the issue of boat people, which is a huge political issue in Australia.
President Yudhoyono emphasized the need for a code of conduct between Australia and Indonesia to ensure that such spying activities will no longer occur in the future, at a press conference held recently.
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott welcomed the idea of establishing a code of conduct.
The meeting between the two ministers is said to be an early step toward the creation of the code of conduct.
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