Elevating Vietnam-Indonesia Relations to Strategic Partnership

President Truong Tan Sang and Indonesian President Bambang Yudhoyono officially announced the upgrading of bilateral relations.

At the invitation of Indonesian President Bambang Yudhoyono, on the afternoon of June 27, President Truong Tan Sang and his wife, along with a high-ranking delegation of our country, arrived in the capital Jakarta to begin a two-day state visit to Indonesia (June 27 and 28).

The official welcoming ceremony for President Truong Tan Sang was solemnly held with the highest protocol reserved for heads of state.

The official welcoming ceremony for the President was solemnly held with the highest protocol reserved for heads of state.

At exactly 4:15 p.m., President Truong Tan Sang's motorcade arrived at the Presidential Palace in Jakarta. Indonesian President Bambang Yudhoyono warmly and solemnly welcomed our President with the highest ceremony reserved for a Head of State.

President Bambang Yudhoyono invited President Truong Tan Sang to step up to the podium. The military band played the national anthems of Vietnam and Indonesia along with a 21-gun salute to welcome the visit of our President.

Then at the Presidential Palace, President Truong Tan Sang and his wife had a meeting with President Bambang Yudhoyono and his wife before the two leaders held talks.

President Bambang Yudhoyono warmly welcomed President Truong Tan Sang and the high-ranking delegation of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam to Indonesia; highly appreciated the significance of Vietnam's first State visit to Indonesia since 2001; and believed that the good results of the visit would contribute to consolidating and further enhancing the traditional friendship and comprehensive cooperation between the two countries.

President Truong Tan Sang expressed his joy at his first official visit to Indonesia and thanked President Bambang Yudhoyono and the Indonesian people for their warm welcome and brotherly friendship.

During the talks, the two leaders informed each other about the political, economic and foreign affairs situation of each country. President Bambang Yudhoyono congratulated Vietnam on overcoming many difficulties and challenges in the context of a volatile global economy, continuing to maintain macroeconomic stability, curb inflation and ensure social security.

President Truong Tan Sang highly appreciated Indonesia's ability to maintain a high economic growth rate, aiming for sustainable development; he believed that Indonesia would successfully implement the "Master Plan for Economic Acceleration and Expansion for the 2011-2025 period" and increasingly enhance its important role and position in ASEAN as well as in other multilateral forums, including the G20 and the United Nations.

The two leaders agreed that the traditional friendship and comprehensive cooperation between the two countries have been continuously developing over the past 60 years and have achieved many important achievements in various fields. On that basis, the two leaders officially announced the upgrading of Vietnam-Indonesia relations to a Strategic Partnership to bring the relationship between the two countries to a new height, for the benefit of the people of each country, for peace, stability, cooperation and prosperous development of the region and the world.

President Truong Tan Sang and President Bambang Yudhoyono (Photo: VNA)

Politically, the two leaders agreed to continue to further strengthen the traditional relationship of friendship and trust on the basis of regular exchanges of delegations and contacts at high and all levels; continue to effectively implement existing cooperation mechanisms, including the Bilateral Cooperation Committee at the Foreign Minister level and the Joint Committee on Economic, Scientific and Technical Cooperation; accelerate the implementation of the "Action Program for the 2012-2015 period" on schedule, and at the same time supplement this Action Program to be consistent with the newly established Strategic Partnership.

Indonesia agreed to soon establish the Indonesia-Vietnam Friendship Association to closely coordinate with the Vietnam-Indonesia Friendship Association to further enhance people-to-people exchanges in the new context, especially educating the young generation of the two countries about the tradition of friendship between the two peoples.

Strive to increase two-way trade turnover

Regarding economic-trade-investment cooperation, the two leaders agreed that two-way trade turnover has grown well in recent years, towards a more balanced direction, and strive to increase two-way trade turnover to over 5 billion USD before 2015 and reach 10 billion USD in 2018. The two sides said that two-way investment is still modest and not commensurate with the potential as well as the relationship between the two countries at the level of Strategic Partnership; the two leaders requested relevant ministries and branches of the two countries to study and promote investment promotion measures; at the same time, affirmed to create favorable conditions for enterprises of one country to invest in the other.

The two leaders also agreed that other potential areas such as energy, agriculture-fishery, aquaculture, education-training, etc. are having many positive developments; agreed to promote cooperation in food security, implement oil and gas cooperation projects, coal trading and mining cooperation; strengthen the implementation of the Memorandum of Understanding on Fisheries Cooperation and Marine Issues (2010) to exploit the great potential for cooperation in this field as well as closely coordinate to resolve issues related to fishermen and vessels violating each other's waters in the spirit of humanity and friendship; support the proposal of a temporary solution while continuing to discuss the Agreement on the delimitation of exclusive economic zones.

Regarding defense-security cooperation, the two Leaders acknowledged the positive developments in the implementation of the Agreement on Cooperation in Crime Prevention (2005) and the Memorandum of Understanding on Strengthening Cooperation between Defense Officials and Related Activities (2010); agreed to promote negotiations, soon sign the Regulations on coordinated patrols between the two Navies in adjacent waters and quickly deploy them in the field, contributing to maintaining stability and security at sea; at the same time, study the establishment of appropriate Policy Dialogue mechanisms on security and defense.

The two sides also affirmed the importance of strengthening cooperation in the fields of defense industry, counter-terrorism, and dealing with non-traditional security challenges.

Peaceful Dispute Resolution in the East Sea

Discussing international and regional issues, the two leaders affirmed to continue to strengthen consultation and closely coordinate their positions at regional and international forums, especially within ASEAN and the United Nations; agreed to work together with other ASEAN member countries to strive to achieve the goal of building the Community by 2015. Vietnam affirmed to continue to support Indonesia in its role as Chair of APEC 2013; thanked and hoped that Indonesia would continue to support Vietnam in hosting APEC 2017.

Regarding the East Sea, the two leaders reaffirmed the importance of peace, stability, safety, security and freedom of navigation in the East Sea; settlement of disputes by peaceful means, self-restraint, non-use or threat of force; respect for international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS); full implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC) and early completion of the Code of Conduct in the East Sea (COC). The two sides also expressed their support for ASEAN's Six-Point Statement on the East Sea and welcomed the Joint Statement of the 15th ASEAN-China Summit on the 10th Anniversary of the DOC as well as the next concrete steps of implementation of these Statements.

At the end of the talks, the two leaders witnessed the signing of the Agreement on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters, the Agreement on Extradition and the Memorandum of Understanding on Agricultural Product Cooperation between the two countries.

On this occasion, the two sides will also sign Memorandums of Understanding on Financial Cooperation and Memorandums of Understanding on Energy and Mineral Resources Cooperation.

Afterwards, President Truong Tan Sang and Indonesian President Bambang Yudhoyono chaired a press conference to announce some results of the talks.
Indonesian President Bambang Yudhoyono expressed his joy at the new chapter in the relationship between the two countries: “The results of the talks achieved a series of consensuses and agreements that have created an important foundation to promote the relationship between the two countries in the coming time, especially the upgrading of the relationship between the two countries to a Strategic Partnership, contributing to the benefits of the two peoples, two countries as well as peace and cooperation in the region and the world.”

President Truong Tan Sang highly appreciated the increasingly positive development of the friendship between the two countries. Based on the comprehensive cooperation in recent times, the two sides decided to upgrade the traditional friendship and comprehensive cooperation between Vietnam and Indonesia to a strategic partnership.

President Truong Tan Sang emphasized: “Upgrading relations will create new momentum to bring cooperation between the two countries into deeper, more effective and sustainable areas; actively contributing to the goal of building the ASEAN community by 2015 as well as for peace, stability, cooperation and development in Asia-Pacific and the world.”

Tonight, Indonesian President Bambang Yudhoyono held a solemn reception for President Truong Tan Sang and the high-ranking delegation of the Vietnamese State on the occasion of his State visit to Indonesia./.

According to (vov.vn) - LT