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Indonesia promises free visas, again

Indonesia is again promising to give Australians free visas, for the third time this year, but wants rules relaxed for its own citizens.

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Source: AAP


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Indonesia is again promising to give Australians visa-free entry, however it wants rules relaxed for its own citizens before waiving the $US35 ($A48.71) fee for tourists.

Australia was among 84 countries added to its free visa on arrival list on Monday, to be enacted early next year.

However it's the third time this year the move has been discussed.

In March, when tensions were high over Indonesia's executions of Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan, Jakarta blamed a lack of reciprocal arrangements for its decision to remove Australia from a list of 45 countries going visa-free.

In September the tourism minister promised Australia would be among the next batch of countries to have visa fees waived, but it wasn't included when the policy became effective on October 1.

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In a statement, Co-ordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs, Rizal Ramli, said more discussions were needed with Australia.

"Because of tight regulations on visas in Australia, the government will have further negotiations with the Australian embassy regarding giving free visas," he said.

Jakarta wanted commitments on three things: long-term visas for officials at the level of director and above, visas for business and tighter security in airports and ports regarding drugs.

The Jakarta Post reported Dr Ramli saying in reference to the death penalty: "we don't want any more people committing wrongdoing and then have to punish them with our law".

The reference is curious however, as Sukumaran and Chan were arrested in Bali over an attempt to bring drugs into Australia, not out of Australia and into Indonesia.

In the statement Jakarta said Indonesia was keen to exclude countries "active in drug trafficking and exporters of extreme ideology".

Further discussions were also flagged with China's embassy on concerns about drug trafficking and cyber crime.

Indonesia said it would increase its own monitoring for drugs and criminals wanted by Interpol as the policy grows visitor numbers.

Jakarta is striving to attract 20 million foreign tourists over the next five years.

Australia recently announced some improvements to visas for Indonesians - a three-year multiple entry class and online applications.


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