But that friendship became particularly special with Australia's involvement in the UN-sponsored process of recognising Indonesia's independence. Since then the relationship between our two countries has had its peaks and valleys, its high and low moments, but always it was a journey from strength to strength, toward the mature state that it is in today. Almost 400 Australian companies in mining, manufacturing and services are today operating in this country. Indonesian students enrolled in Australian educational institutions have been increasing by at least 30 percent every year. In the future therefore, a large part of Indonesian leadership in a wide range of fields will look to Australian colleges and universities as the seedbed of the competencies and values that make them effective global competitors.
Indonesian tourists continue to visit Australia in increasing numbers.
On the other hand, Australian tourists have been the mainstay of the Indonesian tourism industry. Exchanges of visits between ministers, senior officials and business people of our two countries have been intensifying over the years. But since 1989, we have signed some 20 new agreements covering cooperation in the fields of taxation, fisheries, mines and energy, workforce development, education and training, industrial relations, agricultural research, animal and plant quarantine, industry, science and technology, marine engineering, customs, investment, housing and urban development, health, tourism, post and telecommunication, transport, finance and development cooperation. In addition to these, Chief Minister Perron and I signed in 1992 an MOU on Economic Development Cooperation between the Eastern Part of Indonesia and the Northern Territory. Perhaps nothing better illustrates the closeness of our relations than our biennial Ministerial Forum established in 1992.