Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi (L) meets US Secretary of State John Kerry (Source: flickr.com)Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi and US Secretary of State John Kerry discussed measures to expand the two countries’ partnership during their meeting in Washington D.C. on September 21.
The meeting is to prepare for the US visit by Indonesian President Joko Widodo slated for October 26 this year.
In addition to economic cooperation, the two sides will focus on enhancing affiliations in navigation, national defence, security and democracy in the near future, said Minister Retno.
The two officials mentioned environmental issues, including Indonesia-US commitments to gas emissions mitigation and their contributions to the climate change conference to be held in Paris this October.
They also discussed cooperation in addressing regional and global challenges for mutual benefits, such as the ASEAN Agenda and the East Asian Summit.
US Secretary of State John Kerry highlighted Indonesia as one of the important member states in ASEAN, saying the country plays a crucial part in maintaining the central role of the bloc.
The US is the fourth biggest trade partner of Indonesia with trade hitting 27.7 billion USD in 2014.
In terms of investment, the US ranked 6 th with 1.3 billion USD poured into the Southeast Asian country.
The number of US tourists to Indonesia reached 234,100 last year.-VNA
