Indonesia, Australia to boost efforts to fight people smuggling

Dec 10, 2008, 7:43 GMT

   Bali, Indonesia - Indonesia and Australia pledged Wednesday to intensify efforts to fight against human trafficking, and Jakarta will soon to extradite an Iranian national to face such charges in Australia.

   Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said he and Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono agreed that 'we would further deepen our cooperation at the operational field level in dealing with the challenges of people smuggling.'

   Rudd, who was on the Indonesian resort island of Bali to attend a regional forum to promote democracy, said an Iranian national suspected of smuggling people to Australia will soon be extradited from Indonesia.

   He welcomed the decision by Indonesia to extradite Iranian national Hadi Ahmadi, to face charges in Australia, adding that that Ahmadi is in Indonesian police detention awaiting his extradition to Australia.

   'Our courts in Indonesia have decided that he can be extradited and our government is following up on this,' Yudhoyono said.

On economic issues, Rudd announced the Australian government had offered a 1-billion-Australia-dollar (650-million-US-dollars) standby loan to help Indonesia cope with the global liquidity crisis.

   'As a good neighbour, it was natural for Australia to pledge such commitment,' Rudd said.

   Jakarta had sought a 2-billion-dollar loan from Australia, as part of a total of 5 billion dollars in emergency loans it says it needs.

   Indonesia decided not to rely on International Monetary Fund as it did a decade ago during the Asian financial meltdown, Yudhoyono said, preferring to seek assistance from the World Bank, Asian Development Bank or traditional allies such as Japan, Australia and European Union.