JAKARTA, July 27 — Indonesia and China are to strengthen economic cooperation that will mutually benefit both countries as well as the region and the world.
Indonesian President Joko Widodo and Chinese President Xi Jinping during a meeting at Villa 14, Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing on Tuesday conveyed their commitment on this.
Joko Widodo, popularly known as Jokowi, who is in China as part of his three east Asian nation tour, also discussed regional and global issues with his Chinese counterpart.
“As the largest economy in Southeast Asia, Indonesia has an important place for China and the region,” Indonesian Minister of Foreign Affairs Retno Marsudi said in her statement following the meeting.
President Xi expressed appreciation for Jokowi’s contribution as President of G20 in attempting to restore global peace and improve the humanitarian situation, like seen in his visit to the Ukrainian capital Kyiv and Russian capital Moscow recently.
“This visit, according to President Xi shows Indonesia’s responsibility as a big country,” she said.
Indonesia currently holds the G20 Presidency and will hold the Chairmanship of ASEAN next year.
The two leaders also discussed the importance of concrete and mutually beneficial cooperation in the Global Development Initiative (GDI).
“If concrete cooperation can be manifested, it is expected that Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) achievements in developing countries can be better,” she said.
The G20 and ASEAN matters also discussed during the meeting, she said adding that “Indonesia is committed to making ASEAN relevant not only to Indonesian people but also to the region and the world.”
During the bilateral meeting, President Jokowi, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, and President Xi Jinping sealed seven agreements; renewal of the memorandum of understanding (MoU) on Global Maritime Fulcrum and Belt Road Initiative, MoU on vaccine and genomics research and development cooperation and MoU on green development, marine cooperation arrangement, protocols on Indonesian pineapple exports, cooperation arrangement of information exchange and enforcement of customs violations, and action plan on cyber security and technology capacity development cooperation.
Jokowi will leave to Japan today where he is to meet Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. He is also expected to call on Japanese Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako. He will then continue with his tour to South Korea on Thursday where he is expected to meet his counterpart Yoon Suk-yeol.
