Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol (Photo: Yonhap/VNA) Jakarta (VNA) – Indonesian ForeignMinister Retno LP Marsudi has said that her country wants to enhance cooperationwith the Republic of Korea in many areas, from national defence to economy,including the development of the new capital city Nusantara.
Last weekend, Retno co-chaired the fourth Indonesia-RoK Joint Commission Meeting withher counterpart Park Jin in Seoul to discuss measures to promote bilateralrelations.
Retno told the press that the meetingheld special significance as it took place on the occasion of the 50thanniversary of bilateral diplomatic ties, as well as during Indonesia's tenureas Chair of ASEAN and the MIKTA (Mexico, Indonesia, RoK, Turkey,and Australia) group.
Retno also called on the two countries tooptimise the Defence Industry Cooperation Committee (DICC) and the SeniorDefence and Diplomatic Officials’ Meeting (SOM 2 2) to discuss strategic issuessuch as cyber security, peacekeeping operations, maritime security, andcounterterrorism. The two countries also need to continue fully tapping theIndonesia-Korea Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (IK-CEPA) astwo-way trade has reached a record high of 24.53 billion USD, up 33% comparedto 2021.
On the occasion, Retno encouraged the Koreanprivate sector to increase investment in Indonesia's strategic industries suchas steel, petrochemicals, electric vehicle batteries, renewable energy, and thedevelopment of the new Nusantara capital. She also urged strengtheningpeople-to-people exchange between the two countries, with a target of welcoming300,000 Korean tourists.
Meeting Minister Retno, Korean President YoonSuk-yeol expressed support for Indonesia's role as Chair of the ASEANand MIKTA, as well as the combination of ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific and theRoK's Indo-Pacific Strategy. He also announced a plan to attend the ASEAN Summitin Indonesia in September./.
