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Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Australian Ambassador to Indonesia Bill Farmer has welcomed the hosting by Indonesia and Australia of a desk-top exercise to enhance multinational disaster relief responses in the Asia-Pacific region, an Australian Embassy media release has said.

It said the two-day exercise which was commenced on Thursday aimed to to improve the speed and effectiveness of multinational, civil and military disaster response capabilities between the 27 participants of the ASEAN Regional Forum and wiykd involve a range of Government agencies and regional aid bodies.

Australian Minister for Defence, Joel Fitzgibbon, said this initiative built on the valuable contributions the Australian Defence Force has made in regional disaster relief efforts and highlights Australia`s commitment to our regional partners.

"The last few years have seen an increase in multinational responses to regional disasters - most notably the successful international effort in responding to the devastating Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004. It is important that the region works together to further improve and coordinate our efforts," Fitzgibbon said.

"Holding the exercise in Jakarta also ensures regional countries gain maximum benefit from the lessons learned and experience of the Indonesian Government and its Armed Forces in responding to a range of natural disasters," he added.

According to the Australian minister for defense, the exercise was an important step in coordinating expertise from across the region and focused a very broad bank of resources to the critical task of rendering assistance to those who needed it most during a natural disaster.

The exercise - a regional cooperation activity conducted through the ASEAN Regional Forum - is being held at the Indonesian Naval Command and Staff College in Jakarta over 1-2 May 2008.

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