President Widodo, Prime Minister Kishida to Discuss Efforts to Bolster Bilateral Ties
Indonesian President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will meet on Saturday, 16 December 2023 to discuss efforts to strengthen relations between the two countries.
“Tomorrow, the President and the Japanese Prime Minister will meet. The two leaders will meet again to discuss efforts that can strengthen our bilateral relations,” Foreign Affairs Minister Retno Marsudi informed in Tokyo, Japan, on Friday. She made the statement while delivering her remarks at the inauguration of the Indonesian embassy building in Tokyo.
The meeting scheduled on Saturday is part of a series of activities of the ASEAN-Japan Commemorative Summit, which will take place on 16 and 17 December.
“Earlier, the state minister (of Japan) said that this year, the intensity of relations between Indonesia and Japan has been very high,” Marsudi said. The minister noted that Japan is Indonesia’s second-largest trading partner. In 2022, the value of trade between the two countries crossed US$42 billion. In addition, Japan is the fourth-largest investor in Indonesia. In 2022, Japanese investment in the country reached US$3.56 billion.
ASEAN and Japan earlier officially agreed to form a comprehensive strategic partnership, as outlined in the Joint Statement on the Establishment of the ASEAN-Japan Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, which was adopted at the 26th ASEAN-Japan Summit in Jakarta in September 2023.
The strategic partnership was outlined in three documents: Progress Report of the Revised Implementation Plan of the Vision Statement on ASEAN-Japan Friendship and Cooperation, Future Design and Action Plan of an Innovative and Sustainable ASEAN-Japan Economic Partnership, and ASEAN-Japan Economic Co-Creation Vision.
Japan also made a funding commitment of US$100 million to support the implementation of the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific (AOIP) through the Japan-ASEAN Integration Fund (JAIF) 3.0.
