Bilateral Minerals and Energy Cooperation with Indonesia
The Australia-Indonesia Joint Working Group on Energy and Minerals was initiated in February 1989 at Ministerial level. A Memorandum of Understanding formalising establishment of the Joint Working Group was signed in August 1989 and the first meeting was held the same year.
The objectives of the Joint Working Group are to promote cooperation in resources trade, investment and development, exchange information on relevant world and domestic commodity trends, develop cooperation on specific resources and energy technologies, and facilitate technical exchange in the minerals and energy fields.
The most recent meeting of the Joint Working Group was held in Bali, Indonesia in June 2009. The focus of discussions at the meeting included:
- Indonesia’s new mining legislation
- recent policy developments in Australia:
- carbon capture and storage (CCS) developments
- the Global CCS Initiative, and
- the Energy White paper
- exchange of views on international issues:
- Indonesia's Climate Change policy for the Energy Sector
- implications of the global financial crisis
- opportunities for collaboration:
- renewable energy development including biofuels
- challenges and opportunities in oil and gas
- challenges and opportunities in mineral, coal and geothermal
- capacity building in energy and mineral resources
- geothermal and solar energy technology in Australia
The next meeting is expected to be held in Australia late in 2010.