Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce has praised the outcomes of the first Australia–Indonesia meeting designed to ensure a sustainable future for the red meat and cattle sectors in both countries.

Minister Joyce’s comments came following the inaugural Indonesia-Australia Partnership on Food Security in the Red Meat and Cattle Sector, held in Jakarta on 17 April.

“A productive, sustainable relationship runs much deeper than trade alone. This partnership further demonstrates the Coalition’s commitment to establishing closer ties between the two countries at every level,” Minister Joyce said.

“This partnership aims to support the future of Indonesia’s cattle sector, strengthen bilateral ties and drive the exchange of expertise and technical assistance across the cattle sector.”

The meeting was attended by senior government and business representatives from Indonesia and Australia spanning the trade, business, investment, beef and livestock sectors.

Minister Joyce said that establishing strong relations between the cattle sectors in each country was an essential principle.

“At the end of the day, the real expertise in the cattle sector lies with the people and industries that work in the field. Those relationships will be just as important – if not more so – than the relationship between governments to the future of our partnership,” Minister Joyce said.

The Australian Government has set aside a 10 year, $60 million package to develop the Partnership.

“Projects to be supported under the funding package will be developed collaboratively with Indonesia through the Partnership initiative and will deliver benefits for both nations’ cattle sectors over the long term,” Minister Joyce said.

The first of these was agreed at the meeting as The Northern Territory Cattlemen’s Association (NTCA) Pastoral Industry Student Program. The program will bring Indonesian undergraduate students to Australia to undertake intensive pastoral industry training.

Both countries also agreed to a process to select several other investment related projects covering the supply chain for consideration at the second meeting.

The next meeting is tentatively scheduled to take place in Australia in August 2014.

A communiqué summarising the meeting outcomes is available on the Department of Agriculture website.

Source: Minister for Agriculture