COMPREHENSIVE PARTNERSHIP -- NEXT STEPS

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 JAKARTA 000417 SIPDIS DEPT FOR EAP, EAP/MTS, EAP/MLS NSC FOR E.PHU E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/10/2019 TAGS: PREL EAID OVIP ID SUBJECT: COMPREHENSIVE PARTNERSHIP -- NEXT STEPS Classified By: Ambassador Cameron R. Hume, reasons 1.4(b+d). ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: The Ambassador and Ambassador Retno Marsudi, Director General for European and American Affairs in the Department of Foreign Affairs, on March 10 discussed next steps following the Secretary's February 18-19 visit to Indonesia. Marsudi confirmed President Yudhoyono would attend the G-20 Summit in London and said Yudhoyono desired a bilateral meeting with the President on April 1. She said FM Wirajuda wanted to have a draft statement of comprehensive partnership ready when he visited Washington in mid-May. In response to her suggestion that the Peace Corps program operate as a two-way exchange, the Ambassador said educational exchanges provided a balance. END SUMMARY. G-20 SUMMIT AND BILATERAL ¶2. (C) Marsudi said President Yudhoyono intended to attend the G-20 Summit in London on April 1-2 and hoped to have a bilateral meeting with President Obama on the margins. Yudhoyono would arrive on the morning of April 1 and depart on the evening of April 2. COMPREHENSIVE PARTNERSHIP ¶3. (C) Marsudi said FM Wirajuda was pleased with the Secretary's visit. The Department of Foreign Affairs (DEPLU) had held several inter-departmental meetings since the Secretary's visit on the "comprehensive partnership" that she and FM Wirajuda had agreed to pursue. DEPLU was preparing a draft text, based on the "basic elements" that the Secretary and Wirajuda had enumerated, which DEPLU would soon present to the Embassy. Wirajuda planned to visit Washington in mid-May and hoped to be able to have a draft text of the partnership statement by that time. ¶4. (C) The Ambassador said it was important to ensure all potential areas of cooperation were on the table. It would be possible to make adjustments later, but areas should not necessarily be excluded simply because their current progress was slow. RECENT STEPS ¶5. (C) The Ambassador noted the two sides had exchanged a draft text for a Science and Technology Agreement. Teams would be arriving in the near future to negotiate a Peace Corps agreement and launch discussions on developing an MCC Compact. Washington would send a large delegation to the World Oceans Conference, which had generated a strong stream of interest among the scientific community in the United States. (Note: The United States is participating in the negotiations over the Manado Declaration.) Health was a promising area that remained hobbled by impasses on the Bio-Security Engagement Program (BEP),U.S. Naval Medical Research Unit (NAMRU-2) and the issue of a materials transfer agreement (MTA) for sample sharing. The United States was ready to move forward if Indonesia was. PEACE CORPS AND EDUCATION ¶6. (C) Marsudi said Indonesia wanted to approach the Peace Corps in the context of people-to-people contact, as a two-way street, and asked whether adjustments to the program were possible for individual countries. The Ambassador said the legislation for the Peace Corps program did not permit modification of the basic structure of the program. The Peace Corps' initial survey in Indonesia had focused on health, education and agriculture. Normally a tour lasted two years. If 30-40 came each year, the overall size of the program would be 60-80. ¶7. (C) The Ambassador said it would be impossible within the Peace Corps program itself to find the sort of balance Indonesia was seeking, but other programs might provide that balance. South Korea, for instance, had a program that sent 5,000 students to the United States each year for five months of English, ten months of work internship and two months of travel. Such a program might be possible for Indonesia. It was important that Indonesia develop programs that gave opportunity to a broad range of Indonesian students. Currently most Indonesian students going to the United States were those who could afford to pay for it themselves, which represented only one slice of Indonesian society. VISAS JAKARTA 00000417 002 OF 002 ¶8. (C) Marsudi asked whether there was any move under way to review the visa regime, which made it difficult for Indonesians to visit the United States. The Ambassador said that 78 percent of Indonesian applicants for student visas received a visa. The process was administratively slow, and there was an effort to rectify that. In individual cases, the Embassy consistently sought to ensure that applicants were treated with respect. DEFENSE COOPERATION ¶9. (C) The Ambassador asked for clarification of the GOI's intentions regarding an MOU on Defense Cooperation. The Indonesian Defense Department (DEPHAN) had proposed a draft agreement ten months earlier, and Washington had provided a counter-proposal very close to the Indonesian draft. The Ambassador was authorized to sign this text, but DEPHAN had told the Defense Attache that DEPHAN was not ready to sign an understanding at this time. As the Indonesian side had initiated this action, failing to resolve it one way or another created an odd impression. Marsudi said she would look into this matter. HUME