The Chief of the Defence Force, Air Chief Marshal Mark Binskin, and senior Australian Defence Force officers hosted their Indonesian counterparts during a high level military engagement in Canberra yesterday.
On his first visit to Australia as the Indonesian National Armed Forces Commander, General Gatot Nurmantyo was accompanied by seven senior Indonesian military representatives.
Air Chief Marshal Binskin said the size of delegations demonstrated the commitment to strengthening people-to-people links between Indonesia and Australia.
"We value our friendship with Indonesia and recognise that strong peer-to-peer relationships across our respective defence forces are an important factor in maintaining mutual trust and cooperation."
General Nurmantyo and Air Chief Marshal Binskin also signed a Joint Statement on Defence Cooperation.
"As neighbours we share maritime borders and a common interest in promoting regional security.
"The statement reflects our shared desire to broaden and strengthen our cooperation in priority areas, including counter terrorism; maritime security; humanitarian assistance and disaster relief; peacekeeping; and intelligence," Air Chief Marshal Binskin said.
"The statement confirms our intent to broaden and strengthen the bilateral defence relationship and will build on the strong engagement program we already enjoy with Indonesia across all three services.
"HMAS Darwin and KRI Usman Harun conducted a passage exercise in February en route to the Indian Naval Fleet Review while HMAS Anzac joined Exercise Komodo in April and the TNI-AL participated in Exercise Kakadu off Darwin in September.
"Darwin also hosted over 130 Indonesian Air Force personnel, five F-16 and two C-130 aircraft during Exercise Pitch Black and the 2016 iteration of Exercise WIRRA JAYA was the largest bilateral Army exercise in over a decade," Air Chief Marshal Binskin said.
Media note:
Defence imagery is available at: http://images.defence.gov.au/S20162732
