Press conference with Retno Marsudi, Indonesian Foreign Minister

RETNOMARSUDI: I'm here with Minister JulieBishop. I'd like to continue in Indonesian. There are a few points I want tomake about the results of the Seventh Bali Process Ministerial Conference.Firstly, we saw very strong enthusiasm from all participants and this wasdemonstrated by the level and number of participants at this meeting – 281delegates from 46 countries and 10 international organisations – and of theparticipants, 26 were ministers or ministerial-level.

The next point is that the spirit of collaboration was so high duringthe conference and all delegates commended the role of the Bali Process. Thesecond point that I would like to mention here is on innovation. I mentioned inmy concluding remarks about innovation, how the Bali Process can expandrelations with the best business sector. This is very important and thisstarted the Government-Business Forum last year in Perth and this year for thefirst time, we have the Bali Business Forum together with the Bali Process. Soit's the first of its kind in the Bali Process.

Why I said that the business sector plays very significant role isbecause the business sector could help us, could collaborate with thegovernment to address, for example, the economic root causes of illegalmigration. So that is, from that we understand how important the role of theprivate sector is. Because we know that prosperity is key to combattingtransnational organised crime, trafficking and smuggling networks in theregion, and the meeting took note of the recommendation, the Triple Arecommendation. Triple A is Acknowledge, Act and Advance.

Next point is that closer collaboration between government and thebusiness sector is very strategic in ensuring that global value chains are freefrom such crimes. Still on innovation and networks, we need to support theeffort to strengthen the collaboration with civil society. We agreed also toincrease, to strengthen our links between the Bali Process with other regionaland international processes on migration, such as ASEAN. Of course, we welcomethe ILO as the new member of the Bali Process. This conference produced thedeclaration of the Seventh Ministerial Conference of the Bali Process, whichreinforces the political commitment of the member countries and it sends a verystrong signal to the world that we, the members of the Bali Process, standready to be part of the solution.

Once again I would like to thank Julie, thank Pak Eddy and Andrew alsofor the very nice cooperation. I would like to invite my good friend JulieBishop.

JULIEBISHOP: Thankyou Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi, my very good friend and colleague andco-chair of the Bali Process. I acknowledge our co-chairs, in Eddy Sariaatmadjaand Andrew Forrest. The fact that Australia and Indonesia have co-chaired theBali Process throughout its 16 years of existence is a demonstration of thedeep habits of cooperation between Australia and Indonesia and a recognition ofour longstanding friendship and our ability to work together to tacklechallenging issues.
The Bali Process is the preeminent forum for tackling the issues ofillegal and irregular migration, people smuggling, human trafficking, modernslavery, forced labour and other heinous transnational crimes that rob peopleof their dignity, that undermine strong societies and are unacceptablepractices in a modern, twenty-first century world, anywhere in the world.

The Bali Process region stretches from the Middle East, through Asia,across the Pacific and we have 45 member nations, four organisations, nowincluding the International Labor Organization, and almost 30 observers. So itcovers a significant region and has a substantial membership. We certainlyencourage more nations and organisations to consider applying for membership ofthe Bali Process.

The Bali Process has a substantial work program and we operate on thebasis of sharing information, of sharing best practice. When one nation, forexample Australia, has introduced a Modern Slavery Act, we share the detailswith other nations and encourage them to learn from our mistakes, learn fromwhat we would have done differently, but each time to take on board the lessonslearned. The Bali Process has committed to a number of initiatives and theseare set out in the Ministerial Declaration that builds on the 2016 MinisterialDeclaration as well.

Last year we convened for the first time a Bali Process Government andBusiness Forum because we recognised that Governments alone cannot tackle thesechallenges and come up with solutions, that we need the support of the privatesector, and from an initial beginning last year we have now seen an enormousamount of interest generated in the Government Business Forum and a substantialnumber of significant business leaders attended the Government-Business Forumthis year. I pay tribute to Eddy and Andrew and to Emtek and Walk Free Foundationfor the work they have done over the past 12 months to drive the momentum thatwas achieved last year and to take such a leadership role in being the voicefor business and working with government to tackle these extraordinarychallenges that we confront.

The Government-Business Forum will now be a permanent track within theBali Process, an additional permanent track within the Bali Process, and Icongratulate Andrew and Eddy for their energy and the resources that they havedevoted to achieving this outcome.

The Triple A framework of recommendations, as Retno said – Acknowledge,Act, Advance – really will be a blueprint for governments and business in thefuture. Acknowledge the extent, the scale of the problem. Act collaboratively,cooperatively, and advance to maintain the momentum that we have built to date.The Co-Chairs' Statement that has been circulated sets out the discussion thatwe have had both at the conference and now at the second forum. So I am proudof the work that Australia has done in co-chairing with Indonesia the BaliProcess, but I am equally proud of the fact that business has stepped up to themark and is working with government in such a collaborative way. Thediscussions have been frank and open, with many businesses admitting to issueswithin their own supply chains. It can't be easy for them to raise these thingspublicly, but the spirit of cooperation that we've seen at the Bali Process andat the Government-Business Forum has been quite remarkable.

I thank the co-chairs and I particularly thank Indonesia for hostingthis event. We know it has been a difficult time for Indonesia. The earthquakein Lombok and the aftershocks have caused loss of life and widespread damage.Again, I extend our deepest sympathies to the people of Indonesia and to allthose affected by this natural disaster and we stand with you in your effortsto ensure that people in need are receiving the support that they require.

Thank you Retno for continuing to co-host during what I know has been adifficult time and please pass on to your government our very best wishes.