Canberra (ANTARA Jambi) - Indonesia and Australia must focus on maintaining long-term good relations and avoid being side-tracked by one or two problems, Indonesian Vice President Boediono has said.
"As countries destined to be neighbors, the two must have the goodwill to maintain their relations over the long term," he said at a general lecture at Australia National University here on Wednesday.
He made the statement while replying to a participant's question during a question and answer session about illegal immigrants and wiretapping allegations that have been widely reported by the media in both nations.
Vice President Boediono said the current problems were similar to those that had occurred previously, adding that these had been successfully overcome.
All problems, he said, could be overcome by mutual trust and strong cooperation.
With regard to the wiretapping issue, Boediono said it was currently being investigated by the diplomatic officials concerned.
He said there should be a guarantee that the intelligence information gathered would not be used to attack each other.
Ahead of the lecture, Vice President Boediono met with Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott to discuss the wiretapping issue, among other things.
According to the vice president's deputy secretary for political affairs, Dewi Fortuna Anwar, during the meeting, Vice President Boediono noted that the wiretapping issue had drawn much attention from many quarters in Indonesia.
Dewi said the two leaders had also discussed the detention of the Indonesian child boat crew in Australia.
With regard to the wiretapping allegations, she said, Indonesia has asked Australia to pay special attention to the issue.(Ant)
