Hanoi (VNA) – Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan held talks on February 12 in Jakarta, and signed a series of agreements to boost trade and defence ties between the two nations.
Speaking after the talks, Prabowo emphasised that the two sides are committed to increasing trade between the two countries, which is mutually beneficial and agreed to promote joint production and cooperation in the defence industry.
According to Prabowo, the two sides will conduct joint training for soldiers and strengthen cooperation in counter-terrorism and intelligence.
For his part, Erdogan said that the two sides discussed important global issues, including the situation in Syria and the Palestinian issue. The two leaders set a target of increasing two-way trade to 10 billion USD a year.
According to the Indonesian Ministry of Trade, trade between the two countries last year was estimated at 2.4 billion USD.
On the occasion of the Turkish leader’s visit to Indonesia, ministers and officials of both countries signed a series of agreements on trade, energy, higher education and religion. Notably, this included an agreement to produce unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in Indonesia.
Erdogan is on a visit to Indonesia after travelling to Malaysia and before heading to Pakistan.
Relations between Indonesia and Turkey have made strong strides under former President Joko Widodo, when he made an official visit to Turkey in 2017. Notably, in 2023, Indonesia spent about 300 million USD to buy 12 drones from Turkey to modernise its military. Both countries are currently members of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC)./.
