On 5-6 October the inaugural Indonesia-Australia Dialogue will be held at the Four Seasons Hotel in Jakarta.

The Indonesia-Australia Dialogue initiative was jointly announced by leaders during the March 2010 visit to Australia by Indonesian President Yudhoyono, as a bilateral second track dialogue.

Reflecting the need to develop people-to-people links, the Indonesia-Australia Dialogue is designed to facilitate regular dialogue in our communities on a broad range of issues.

Drawing on the experience of other leadership dialogues, the Indonesia-Australia Dialogue seeks to promote people-to-people links and build high-level commitment to advancing areas of the relationship at all levels of society.

The Indonesia-Australia Dialogue is expected to help build relationships between leaders in a range of fields, and develop their understanding of the breadth and possibilities of the relationship.  Discussions will cover domestic, regional and global issues and will explore opportunities for closer engagement in business, science and technology.

The Indonesia-Australia Dialogue will be co-convened by Mr John McCarthy, former Ambassador to Indonesia, United States, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam and Mexico and High Commissioner to India, and Dr Rizal Sukma, Executive Director of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Jakarta.

As background, Australia has leadership dialogues in a range of formats between Australian participants and its key partners, including the United States, Japan, New Zealand and Korea. The Indonesia-Australia Dialogue adds this element in the bilateral relationship.