India, Indonesia to expand ties, cooperate on security issues

JAKARTA: Expanding their relations beyond the economic sphere, India and Indonesia today agreed to cooperate on counter-terrorism, security, anti-corruption and disaster management and signed six pacts to take forward their strategic partnership.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, on his first bilateral visit to the Southeast Asian country, called on Indonesia to speedily ratify an extradition treaty and a mutual legal assistance treaty.

After talks with Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Singh said they had directed officials to "evolve a comprehensive action plan for meaningful and mutually beneficial security cooperation".

According to officials, six pacts in areas like health, anti-corruption, narcotics, disaster management and academics were signed by the two sides.

To bolster bilateral ties, India and Indonesia agreed to pursue a five-pronged agenda focusing on areas like defence and security cooperation and a comprehensive economic partnership.

The two sides decided to boost cooperation in combating terrorism, terrorist financing, arms smuggling, organised crime, money laundering, drug and human trafficking, counterfeiting and cyber crime.

The leaders agreed to enhance liaison between intelligence and law enforcement agencies and to provide each other with assistance to fight terror and organised crime, a joint statement said. They also directed relevant agencies to launch a dialogue on cyber security issues.

Yudhoyono and Singh also decided to take steps to provide mutual access facilitation for agro-products, fish and fishery products.

Singh, who arrived in Jakarta yesterday after attending the ASEAN summit in Brunei, described Indonesia as "one of India's most valued partners in our Look East Policy".