Indonesia, Iran step up multi-faceted cooperation

Indonesian Minister of Foreign Affairs Retno Marsudi and his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif agreed to boost cooperation during a bilateral meeting before attending the United Nations (UN) session in New York.

Accordingly, the two nations will intensify collaboration in trade, investment and energy.

The Iranian minister called for Indonesian enterprises to visit Tehran to seek business opportunities and foster bilateral economic collaboration.

He asked Indonesia to hold a meeting of the key countries in the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to seek peaceful solutions to the conflicts in the Middle East, affirming that Iran supports the Southeast Asian nation to become a non-permanent member of the United Nations Council for 2019-2020.

The two ministers expressed their interest in political and security developments in the Middle East.

Retno Marsudi underscored that Indonesia welcomed the signing of the Joint Comprehensive Action Plan between Iran, members of the United Nations Security Council and Germany after a nuclear agreement was stipulated among them.

She said that the agreement was a historical event in improving relations between Iran and western countries and a step towards addressing Middle East hostilities.

She also stressed the staple roles of dialogues and diplomacy in settling Middle East conflicts.-VNA