RI, A'LIA AGREE TO COOPERATE IN COPING WITH CLIMATE CHANGE

Jakarta, Jun 13 (ANTARA) - Indonesia and Australia have agreed to cooperate in coping with the impact of climate change in the two as well as in other countries.

The cooperation was provided for in a Forest Carbon Partnership agreement signed by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and visiting Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd after a bilateral meeting at the Merdeka Palace here Friday.

"We discussed cooperation to cope with climate change in concrete ways. We have signed an Australia-Indonesia Forest Carbon Partnership agreement as a model of bilateral cooperation to anticipate climate change in the forestry field," Yudhoyono said.

Rudd said the agreement was important for the future of both countries as well
as the world, considering the impact of climate change on forests and the world's population.

"We agreed to carry out the cooperation directly to make the world a better place to live in," he said.

In their bilateral meeting the two leaders also agreed to conclude several other agreements to continue existing bilateral ties of cooperation.

Among the issues discussed during the meeting were also trade and investment, education, tourism, and defense.

President Yudhoyono also asked Rudd to co-chair the Bali Democratic Forum scheduled to be held in 2009.

The Indonesian president supported Australia's idea to enhance dialogs on culture. "We also agreed to continue regional and bilateral cooperation to overcome current global problems such as the food and energy crises, how to reduce the burden especially for developing countries," Yudhoyono said.

Meanwhile, Rudd said bilateral cooperation in the economic field would be intensified and negotiations on regional trade among Australia, New Zealand and ASEAN would be continued.

On the education sector, he said Australia hoped more Australians would study in Indonesia or learn Bahasa Indonesia in Australia.