Jakarta (VNA) – Vietnam’s Party General SecretaryNguyen Phu Trong and Indonesian President Joko Widodo witnessed the signing ofa series of cooperation documents between the two countries in Jakarta onAugust 23 following their talks.

The documents inked include a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on cooperationbetween Vietnam’s Ministry of Justice and Indonesia’s Ministry of Law and HumanRights, and a MoU on information development cooperation between Vietnam’sMinistry of Agriculture and Rural Development and Indonesia’s Ministry ofVillage, Disadvantaged Region Development and Transmigration.

Vietnam’s Ministry of Industry and Trade andIndonesia’s Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources signed a MoUs oncooperation in gas use in border areas, and another on cooperation in the coalindustry.

While the two countries’ coast guard forcesinked a letter of intent on cooperation enhancement, the Vietnamese andIndonesian Governments signed a MoU on educational cooperation.

At a press conference following the signing ceremony, theleaders expressed their delight at the outcomes of the talks, which took placeat the Presidential Palace in Jakarta after an official welcoming ceremony forthe Vietnamese leader, who is on an official visit from August 22 to 24.


The leaders looked back on the countries’ traditionalfriendship and comprehensive cooperation over the past years and discussed waysto deepen their strategic partnership and boost result-oriented relations inall aspects.

President Widodo emphasised that Vietnam hasbeen a strategic partner of Indonesia since 2013, and both of them are membersof ASEAN. Vietnam currently chairs APEC in 2017 and will host the APEC EconomicLeaders’ Meeting in November. Indonesia always supports Vietnam’s role as theAPEC Chair.

During the talks, the two sides scrutinisedthree main issues, namely navigation and fisheries; trade and investment; andregional issues, he said, adding that they agreed to speed up negotiations onthe delineation of exclusive economic zones, work to reach consensus on fishinggrounds, and reduce illegal fishing.

They discussed new measures and initiatives toboost bilateral trade to 10 billion USD in the near future.

[Infographics:༒ Vietnam - Indonesia strategic partnershi꧙p]

As a big producer and exporter of coffee andpepper, Indonesia agreed to devise concrete measures to manage the products,keep their prices stable and improve products’ quality, Widodo noted.

He expressed his hope that Indonesian andVietnamese investors will receive more favourable conditions for theiractivities.

At the talks, the two sides exchanged views onregional issues of shared concern, stressing the importance of keeping ASEAN’ssolidarity and central role, along with forming the ASEAN Community Vision2025.

Indonesia hailed achievements in the formationof a code of conduct (COC) in the East Sea and considered them a strongfoundation for resolving East Sea-related issues and for maintaining stability,peace and prosperity in the region.

Party General Secretary Trong underlined thatVietnam consistently wants to bolster the strategic partnership with Indonesiain a substantive manner. Good implementation of the reached common perceptionsand cooperation orientations and measures will strongly develop bilateralrelations, thus practically benefiting the two peoples, helping to enhancesolidarity among the member countries of the ASEAN Community, and activelycontributing to peace, stability, cooperation and development in the region andthe world.

Earlier, the Vietnamese Party chief and his entourage laid a wreath at theKalibata Heroes Cemetery, where veterans of the Indonesian National Revolutionand other prominent people are buried.
 
Later, President Widodo hosted a banquet inhonour of General Secretary Trong and the Vietnamese delegation.-VNA