COMPREHENSIVE PARTNERSHIP -- SENIOR INDONESIAN

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 JAKARTA 000468 SIPDIS DEPT FOR P, EAP, EAP/MTS, EAP/MLS, EAP/RSP NSC FOR E.PHU E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/16/2019 TAGS: PREL PGOV ID SUBJECT: COMPREHENSIVE PARTNERSHIP -- SENIOR INDONESIAN OFFICIAL ON MOVING FORWARD REF: JAKARTA 433 AND PREVIOUS Classified By: DCM John A. Heffern, reasons 1.4 (b+d). ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: The Indonesian government is preparing a draft Comprehensive Partnership joint statement and hopes to begin discussions soon in Jakarta. A delegation of senior GOI officials will visit Washington in April for further discussions. FM Wirajuda plans to visit Washington in May and hopes to "initial" the draft statement with the Secretary in order to signal our commitment to move forward with the partnership. Indonesian officials hope that President Obama will visit Jakarta in November to issue the statement with his Indonesian counterpart. END SUMMARY. DRAFTING A JOINT STATEMENT ¶2. (C) An interagency Indonesian government team is drafting a joint statement of Comprehensive Partnership with the United States, according to Ambassador Retno Marsudi, Director General for American and European Affairs the Department of Foreign Affairs (DEPLU). In a March 16 meeting with the DCM, Marsudi explained the DEPLU-led drafting group would soon give us a copy of the proposed text. The GOI hoped this draft would be the basis for our subsequent discussions of the partnership. DEPLU officials hope we can agree on most of the statement before FM Wirajuda's planned May visit to Washington (see below). ¶3. (C) The Indonesian draft statement organizes the partnership initiatives into three baskets: political and security; economics, trade and investment; and socio-cultural affairs. Marsudi told the DCM that these three baskets encompassed most of the areas the USG has proposed for possible cooperation. For example, governance and counterterrorism assistance would fall under the political-security realm, science and technology and the environment would fit under economics and the Peace Corps and education under socio-cultural matters. She explained that this organization was consistent with that of Indonesia's strategic partnerships with other states. (Note: It also mirrors the three pillars of ASEAN integration, as outlined in that organization's Charter.) NEXT STEPS ¶4. (C) Once DEPLU has provided us with a copy of the draft statement, DEPLU will organize GOI-Embassy working groups to discuss the subject. The GOI agrees that we should build on the success of the Secretary's visit by identifying additional initiatives within the major areas. ¶5. (C) Marsudi plans to visit Washington April 11-15 to meet USG officials and participate in an Indonesian Embassy-hosted roundtable on the partnership. (Note: Marsudi requested a meeting with Under Secretary Burns and with EAP officials on April 14.) She underscored that the April 14 roundtable was not/not intended to negotiate elements of the partnership or the language of a joint statement. Instead, it would be an opportunity for GOI and USG officials and non-governmental experts from both countries to "brainstorm." The GOI hopes that DAS Marciel and other USG officials will participate. (Note: A number of other senior GOI officials will join Marsudi for the trip. Some plan to participate in a conference on the Partnership that the U.S.-Indonesia Society will host.) ¶6. (C) Marsudi said FM Wirajuda planned to visit Washington in May and hoped to "initial" the draft statement with the Secretary. This would signal our commitment to move forward with the partnership. However, we would not release the statement until our two presidents met. (Note: President Yudhoyono has invited the President to visit Indonesia in November, when he travels to Singapore for APEC.) Marsudi explained that a bilateral ministerial endorsement of the statement would give DEPLU greater leverage to work specific elements through the GOI's somewhat cumbersome interagency process. ¶7. (C) The GOI envisions a two stage process as we move forward with the Comprehensive Partnership, Marsudi explained. Between now and FM Wirajuda's May trip, we would hold informal discussions between Embassy officials and an interagency GOI team. These informal consultations could continue through the summer. A more formal process, which Marsudi called a Plan of Action, would begin after the two presidents issued the joint statement. This process would JAKARTA 00000468 002 OF 002 create a regular mechanism--such as a binational joint commission--to implement the partnership. ¶8. (C) The DCM urged that we should not wait until after the presidential meeting to implement elements of the partnership that were ready sooner. Several key initiatives were already moving forward, such as negotiations on a Science and Technology Agreement, Indonesia's Millennium Challenge Corporation Compact, and the return of the Peace Corps. We should not delay action on these key items. Marsudi agreed that we should move forward with such initiatives concurrently with work on the joint statement. HUME