The Minister of Defense of the Republic of Indonesia, Juwono Sudarsono
and the Secretary of Defense of the United States of America, Robert
Gates held a bilateral talk on June 3, 2007, at the fringe of the
Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore.
The Secretary and the Minister exchanged views on regional and global
security issues and discussed the range of Indonesia-U.S. bilateral
relations, including security and military-to-military cooperation. They
expressed satisfaction that cooperation in those areas has deepened and
strengthened in recent years, commensurate with the steadily deeper and
wide-ranging relations between the two countries. They were in
concurrence that the two countries’ security and military-to-military
ties need to be continuously monitored, managed and nurtured within the
framework of Indonesia’s ongoing democratic transformation. In this
regard, they both stressed the importance of encouraging ongoing reforms
undertaken by Indonesia’s military, a crucial and inseparable part of
democratic reforms.
They also discussed ways and means to deepen the strategic
partnership between Indonesia and the U.S. They underlined the
importance of strengthening existing bilateral cooperation to address
various strategic challenges and mutual interests.
The Secretary and the Minister also exchanged views on the situation
in Iraq and Middle East, and discussed the triple track approaches to
Middle East problems that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono mentioned
during his meeting with President George W. Bush in Bogor, Indonesia,
last year. The Secretary and the Minister stressed the importance of
national reconciliation among parties in Iraq and of garnering regional
and international support for this process as well as for the
reconstruction of Iraq. The Secretary and the Minister in particular
commended Indonesia’s contribution to the U.N. Peace Keeping Operations
in Lebanon and welcomed ongoing U.S. cooperation to help Indonesia
enhancing its peace keeping operations capacity.
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