President Vo Van Thuong holds talks with Indonesian President Joko Widodo

President Vo Van Thuong warmly welcomed President Joko Widodo on his State visit to Vietnam; emphasizing that Vietnam always attaches importance to and wishes to further strengthen the traditional relationship and Strategic Partnership with Indonesia on the basis of historical tradition, similar values ​​and interests, mutual trust and understanding as well as common commitment to international law. The President highly appreciated Indonesia's outstanding domestic and foreign achievements under the leadership of President Joko Widodo in the past two terms; congratulated Indonesia on successfully fulfilling its role as Chair of the G20 in 2022 and Chair of ASEAN and AIPA in 2023; wished Indonesia a successful organization of the upcoming General Election, continued prosperous development, and active contribution to peace and cooperation in the region and the world.

President Joko Widodo thanked the warm welcome and expressed his pleasure in visiting Vietnam for the second time as President; congratulated Vietnam on its outstanding socio-economic achievements; appreciated the substantive exchanges with Vietnamese leaders during delegation exchanges and high-level contacts in recent times; and thanked Vietnam for its support during Indonesia's tenure as ASEAN Chair in 2023. The Indonesian President affirmed his appreciation and desire to further strengthen the traditional friendship and cooperation with Vietnam - Indonesia's only Strategic Partner in ASEAN.

The two leaders expressed their satisfaction with the strong and dynamic development of the Vietnam-Indonesia Strategic Partnership. Exchanges of delegations and contacts at high and all levels have been maintained regularly, most notably the phone call between General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong and President Joko Widodo in August 2022; the Action Program on the Strategic Partnership for the 2019-2023 period has been well implemented. Cooperation in other important areas such as national defense and security, education and training, culture and tourism, local connectivity, and people-to-people exchange continues to receive attention and develop positively. In ASEAN, Indonesia is Vietnam's third largest trading partner and Vietnam is Indonesia's fourth largest trading partner. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, bilateral trade turnover continues to grow positively (from 9 billion USD in 2019 to nearly 14 billion USD in 2023).

Discussing a number of major cooperation directions in the coming time, the two sides agreed to further enhance political trust through delegation exchanges and contacts at high and all levels; effectively implement bilateral cooperation mechanisms; and promptly develop an Action Program for the 2024-2028 period in line with the new context. The two leaders also agreed that, based on the great achievements of cooperation over the past nearly 70 years, it is necessary to soon bring the Strategic Partnership between the two countries to a new height.

The two sides agreed to strengthen cooperation in other important areas such as defense-security, maritime cooperation; increase experience exchange in preventing and combating transnational crimes; and not allow any individual or organization to use the territory of one country to sabotage the other. The two sides also agreed to promote effective cooperation in the fields of agriculture and fisheries, information-communications, education-training, culture, sports, tourism, open more direct flights, connect localities, businesses and people-to-people exchanges. At the same time, expand cooperation in new and potential areas such as smart finance, energy transition, digital transformation, innovation, development of electric vehicle and electric battery ecosystems.

The two sides agreed to strive to soon increase bilateral trade turnover to 15 billion USD or higher by reducing trade barriers and facilitating the import and export of each other's key products, including rice trade. The President asked Indonesia to facilitate agricultural products and Halal products originating from Vietnam to access the Indonesian market; and encourage Indonesian businesses to expand their investment in Vietnam. The Indonesian President said that more and more Indonesian businesses are interested in investing in Vietnam and hoped that Vietnamese businesses would expand their investment in Indonesia.

President Vo Van Thuong thanked and hoped that the Indonesian Government would continue to pay attention and create conditions for the Vietnamese community in Indonesia to live stably, successfully integrate into the host society and contribute to the bilateral relationship; highly appreciated and suggested that the two sides continue to cooperate in preventing and combating illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing.

Discussing regional and international issues of mutual concern, the two sides agreed to continue to strengthen consultation, close coordination and mutual support at regional and international forums; promote solidarity and the central role of ASEAN; and coordinate with ASEAN countries to support Laos in successfully assuming the role of ASEAN Chair 2024.

The two leaders reaffirmed the importance of peace, stability, safety, security and freedom of navigation and aviation in the East Sea; coordinated to maintain solidarity and common stance of ASEAN on the East Sea issue; fully and effectively implemented the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC), and made efforts to promote negotiations to reach a substantive, effective Code of Conduct in the East Sea (COC) in accordance with international law, especially the 1982 UNCLOS.

The talks took place in an atmosphere of friendship, openness, sincerity and mutual understanding. After the talks, the two leaders witnessed the exchange of two cooperation documents, including the Memorandum of Understanding on Information and Communications Technology Cooperation and the Memorandum of Understanding on Fisheries Cooperation.

That same evening, President Vo Van Thuong will host a solemn reception to welcome President Joko Widodo and the high-ranking Indonesian delegation.

*After a very successful meeting, on the morning of January 12, President Vo Van Thuong and Indonesian President Joko Widodo co-chaired a press conference to inform about the results of the meeting and the main contents of the cooperation orientation between the two countries in the coming time. Accordingly, the two leaders agreed to further increase bilateral trade turnover.

President Vo Van Thuong happily said: "President Joko Widodo is the first foreign leader to visit Vietnam in 2024, bringing to the country and people of Vietnam friendship, sincerity, and warmth."

The President believes that this visit will create new momentum for the Vietnam-Indonesia friendship and cooperation in the coming time, and said that the two leaders have agreed on major directions to bring the Vietnam-Indonesia strategic partnership to new heights, becoming increasingly deep and effective.

“With the traditional friendship and great achievements in cooperation between the two countries over the past 70 years, it is time to consider and move towards upgrading the bilateral relationship to a new height in the coming time, in order to create new momentum for bilateral relations, contributing to bringing practical benefits to the people of the two countries, actively contributing to ASEAN solidarity, for peace, stability, cooperation and development in the region,” said the President.

President Vo Van Thuong believes that the visit by the President and the high-ranking Indonesian delegation will make positive contributions to the development of the Vietnam-Indonesia friendship and strategic partnership in the coming time, for the benefit of the people of the two countries, for peace, stability, cooperation and development in the region and the world.

Informing the press, Indonesian President Joko Widodo sincerely thanked President Vo Van Thuong and the Vietnamese side for the warm welcome given to the President and his delegation; at the same time, he emphasized that the strategic partnership between Indonesia and Vietnam has gone through 10 years; during that time, bilateral trade turnover has exceeded the target of 10 billion USD. At the talks, the two leaders agreed to increase this turnover.

Welcoming businesses from both countries to invest in each other's markets, the Indonesian President said that two Indonesian "unicorn" companies have made significant investments in Vietnam.

“I am sure that Indonesian companies investing in Vietnam will always be given the best conditions and protection,” President Widodo believes, adding that Indonesia encourages Vietnamese companies to increase their investment in Indonesia.

PV