Prabowo Subianto, Australian PM Complete Negotiation on DCA

Canberra, VIVA – Indonesian defense minister, Prabowo Subianto and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced the completion of negotiations on a new Defense Cooperation Agreement (DCA) between both nations.

During a press conference after a meeting at the Australian Parliament House in Canberra on Tuesday (Aug 21), Subianto stated that the two countries had made good progress in the negotiations.

"We have straightened out a number of details related to legal matters, which, in my opinion, the results are also good," the minister said, as quoted from Antara site.

At the same press conference, Australian PM Albanese stated that the new defense agreement was historic.

"This historic agreement will strengthen our defense cooperation through dialogue, strong interoperability, and improved practices in the field. This will be a vital reference for the two countries and stability in the region," PM Albanese affirmed.

He stated that Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles would fly to Jakarta in the next few days to ink the defense agreement with his Indonesian counterpart, Prabowo Subianto.

Australian Defense Minister Marles, who concurrently serves as deputy prime minister, explained that the completion of the new defense agreement negotiations paved the way for the two countries to hold more joint military exercises.

"This agreement will increase interoperability between the armed forces of the two countries," Marles stated.

He emphasized that the new defense agreement would be the most important cooperation document ever made by Indonesia and Australia.

"On the map, we are indeed close neighbors; we share each other's fate. However, from now on, that fate is determined by a strong strategic mutual trust," he remarked.

Marles explained that defense agreement negotiations generally take a long time, but Indonesia and Australia only needed less than two years to complete the negotiations.

During the press conference, Defense Minister Prabowo also emphasized the need to expand cooperation in other areas, including in the food security sector and agriculture, as well as eradication of drug smuggling.

"I think we discussed important issues, and this will be beneficial for the future of the two countries," Subianto stated.