Jakarta (VNA) – Strategic trust and benefits are among factors behindthe strong development of the relations between Vietnam and Indonesia, whoshare a lot of cultural and historical similarities, according to VietnameseAmbassador to Indonesia Pham Vinh Quang.

In an interview granted to Vietnam News Agency’s correspondent in Jakarta onDecember 29, the Vietnamese diplomat said that the two countries have attachedmuch importance to furthering their ties amidst complicated global and regionalsituation and the fact that Indonesia was busy with its general election in2019.

In terms of political and diplomatic relations, the two sides have maintained high-levelvisits, including those made by Vice President Dang Thi Ngoc Thinh, DeputyPrime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh, and many Indonesia leaders.

In 2019 alone, the two countries organised 27 military exchanges, and held activitiesto mark the 60th anniversary of President Ho Chi Minh’s visit toIndonesia and President Sukarno’s trip to Vietnam. According to formerPresident Megawati Sukarnoputri, who is Sukarno’s daughter, the celebrationcreated opportunities for both nations to celebrate their 60-year friendship,which should be preserved for the sake of bilateral relations as well as globalpeace.

Ambassador Quang also said that Vietnam and Indonesia have worked to boosteconomic, trade and investment relations, with two-way trade rising from 8.4billion USD in 2018 to 9.1 billion USD in 2019. With this growth, it ispossible for them to achieve the target of 10 billion USD in import-exportrevenue next year.

In his opinion, both nations have more opportunities to cooperate in the field,considering that Vietnam is promoting its open trade and global integrationpolicies while Indonesia is aiming to become the world’s 4th largesteconomy by 2045.

However, Vietnam should work more to improve its trade balance with Indonesiaas it ran trade deficit with the country in 2019. The Vietnamese Embassy inIndonesia will coordinate with competent authorities in the host nation tobring more Vietnamese goods to the market, the diplomat said.

The ambassador underlined the two countries have enjoyed sound cooperation intourism, culture and sport in the past year, citing the opening of VietnamAirlines and Vietjet Air’s direct air routes to Bali resort island as anexample. The scheduled opening of direct flights between Hanoi and Jakarta willcreate more impetus for trade and tourism between the two countries. 

Quang particularly laid stress on the enhanced strategic faith between the twonations despite complicated situation in the world and the region.

Vietnam and Indonesia share a multitude of views with each other, includingpursuing sustainable peace and stability in the Asian-Pacific region and theworld as a whole. They both have the policy on not siding with any country toact against a third country, while making positive contributions to promotingmultilateral system in the world and enhancing order based on internationallaw.

However, Quang said that the two sides should work more to settle the illegalfishing issue, hoping the challenge could be tackled as Vietnamese andIndonesian leaders have set the target of early concluding negotiations ondelimitating the exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

Regarding cooperation in 2020, the ambassador said that this is a good time forthe two nations to step up collaboration as they will both serve as non-permanentmembers of the UN Security Council and Vietnam is playing the role as the ASEANChair in the year.

He informed that the two countries will organise a wide range of activities tomark their 65th anniversary of diplomatic relations as well, with themain focus on high-level visits.

Other programmes have been scheduled such as a trade and investment forum,Vietnamese Day and Week events in Jakarta, Bali, Yorgyakarta and Bandung, andcultural and sport exchange activities, he said./.