Indonesia, Japan enhance cooperation, investment

Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi (right) and his Indonesian counterpart Retno Marsudi shake hands ahead of their talks in Tokyo on March 6, 2023. (Photo: Kyodo)

Jakarta (VNA) - Indonesian Foreign Affairs Minister Retno Marsudi and his Japanese counterpart Hayashi Yoshimasa discussed strengthening cooperation and investment between the two countries within the framework of the 8th Indonesia-Japan Ministerial Level Strategic Dialogue on March 6 in Tokyo.

Japan is currently Indonesia's third largest trading partner, with an annual bilateral turnover of more than 42 billion USD before the pandemic. However, this figure is still too low compared with the total trade between Indonesia and other East Asian countries, Retno said.

She suggested the two sides quickly finalise the protocol amending the Indonesia-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement (IJEPA) to tackle trade barriers and expand access to superior products of the two countries.

According to Retno, it is necessary for Japan to be more flexible, especially in removing tariffs on canned tuna from Indonesia, while relaxing special regulations for coffee and sorbitol as well as expanding import of tropical fruits from the Southeast Asian country.

Regarding investment, Retno and her Japanese counterpart discussed a number of potential partnerships including the construction of its future capital (IKN) Nusantara.

A project on building an automobile terminal with a capacity of 600,000 units per year by 2024 and a container terminal with a handling capacity of 525,000 TEU per year by 2023 at Patimban port in West Java Province was also mulled over at the event.

The two sides discussed the results of the meeting between the two transport ministers last week, including collaboration in the development of subway projects, namely the East-West Jakarta corridor project./.