SHINSHO: Indonesia and Australia say they're working on building a new relationship. Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri hosted Australian Prime Minister John Howard today in Jakarta. Maria Ressa has more on Mr. Howard's visit and Mrs. Megawati's busy week of diplomacy and politics.</s>MARIA RESSA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): She formed a cabinet Friday and got high praise from the top U.S. trade official and the Australian prime minister over the next 48 hours. It was a busy weekend for Indonesia's president, Megawati Sukarnoputri. Australian Prime Minister John Howard is here on a fence-mending visit after relations between the two countries were strained in 1999 by East Timor.</s>JOHN HOWARD, AUSTRALIAN PRIME MINISTER: It's a relationship that is important, but like all relationships to be</s>RESSA: To put the past behind, both leaders signed a joint communique.</s>MEGAWATI SUKARNOPUTRI, INDONESIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): This joint communique is the memorandum that we need to tighten Indonesian- Australian relations.</s>RESSA: From Mr. Howard, more words of praise for the new government; this following the World Bank, the IMF, and the United States prompting many businessmen to call it a benign conspiracy. That has helped push the currency, the rupiah, to new highs, breaking 9,000 to the dollar for the first time in more than 10 months. Certainly, this government needs all the help it can get. Indonesia has had four presidents in three years and the social, political and economic turmoil that led to these changes in government. As her cabinet met for the first time, Mrs. Megawati gave control over state enterprises and the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency or IBRA to a trusted and respected aid (ph). This government's first task is clear: to get the economy back on track. That will be easier with friends helping along the way. Maria Ressa, CNN, Jakarta.
Indonesia and Australia Working Towards New Relationship