By VNA January 12, 2024
Vietnam’s Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and Indonesian President Joko Widodo highly evaluated the development of the countries’ cooperation in multiple areas and agreed to strengthen ties in the field of Halal.
Welcoming his guest in Hanoi on Friday, Chinh said Widodo’s state visit to Vietnam holds special significance and will create new momentum for bilateral ties after over 10 years of the strategic partnership and ahead of the 70th anniversary of the diplomatic relations in 2025.
Widodo affirmed that Vietnam is a partner of strategic importance of Indonesia in the region.
Both leaders shared the view that the strategic trust between their countries has been increasingly reinforced via frequent high-level mutual visits and meetings. The bilateral cooperation in such fields as security – defense, maritime affairs, agriculture, fisheries, education – training, tourism, and people-to-people exchanges has recorded a number of positive results.
Economic and trade cooperation is a bright spot of the bilateral relations. Indonesia registered over US$1 billion in investment in Vietnam during January – November 2023, up 37% year on year. It is the third largest ASEAN trading partner of Vietnam, which in turn ranks fourth among trading partners of the former in the region, with bilateral trade approximating $13 billion in the 11 months, statistics showed.
To create a new impetus for the bilateral relations, the two leaders agreed to consider lifting the Vietnam – Indonesia strategic partnership to a new level.
They agreed to continue increasing delegation exchanges and meetings at all levels, effectively implement bilateral cooperation mechanisms and signed high-level agreements and documents, and soon build an action plan for 2024 – 2028 that suits the new context.
