Hanoi (VNA) - President Nguyen Xuan Phuc willlead a high-ranking delegation of Vietnam to pay a state visit to Indonesia fromDecember 21-23 at the invitation of Indonesian President Joko Widodo.

Thisis the first trip to the country by a key Vietnamese leader after the 13th National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam and also the first by a Vietnamese Presidentover the past nine years as the two nations are preparing for the 10th founding anniversary of strategic partnership.

Vietnam and Indonesia established diplomatic relations in1955 and set up the strategic partnership in 2013.

The two countries have signed many agreements on cooperation invarious fields, including an action programme to implement their strategicpartnership for 2019 - 2023. Currently, they have four pairs of twinned provinces/cities, namely Hanoi and Jakarta, Ba Ria-Vung Tau and Padang, Hue andYogyakarta, and Soc Trang and Lampung.

Indonesia is currently Vietnam's third largest trade partner in ASEAN while Vietnam is Indonesia's fourth largest trade partner inthe bloc. Their trade value hit 8.2 billion USD in 2020; 11.5 billion USD in2021, exceeding the target of 10 billion USD set by senior leaders for the first time; and11.6 billion USD in the first ten months of 2022.

Vietnam has mostly exported computers, electronicproducts, iron and steel of all kinds, apparel, plastic materials, mobilephones and components to Indonesia, while mainly importing coal, animal fatsand vegetable oils, and CBU cars of all kinds from Indonesia.

As of September this year, Indonesia had ranked 5th in ASEAN and29th out of 141 countries investing in Vietnam with 101 projects worth 611.7million USD, mostly in processing and manufacturing industry, and accommodationand dining services. Vietnam, meanwhile, had invested 59 million USD in 17 projectsin Indonesia in the fields of commerce, IT, agriculture and industry.

The two countries have also inked a number of memoranda ofunderstanding on cooperation in agriculture, fishery and marine affairs,energy, finance, education, justice and law, coal supply, rural development,and gas supply in the cross-border area. Notably, in September 2018, the twosides signed a joint communiqué on voluntary participation in internationalcooperation in combating illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing andpromoting sustainable fishery management.

President Phuc's state visit is an important eventmarking a stride in the bilateral relations and helping to develop the strategic partnership in an increasingly practical and effective manner, saidVietnamese Ambassador to Indonesia Ta Van Thong.

Vietnam's policy on extensive international integration andIndonesia's Vision 2045 are expected to provide myriad opportunities forcooperation between the countries, he said./.