Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong met Vice Chairmen of the People’s Consultative Assembly of Indonesia Evert Ernest Mangindaan and Hidayat Nur Wahdid in Jakarta on August 22 (Source: VNA) The article said since the establishment of diplomatic ties in December 1955, the bilateral friendship has grown rapidly. The two countries have signed over 30 cooperation agreements in wide-ranging fields.
Vietnam and Indonesia elevated their relations to new heights with the signing of a Joint Statement on the Framework of Friendly and Comprehensive Cooperation Entering into the 21st Century.
The two nations agreed to increase relations to strategic partnership in 2011.
Over the past decade, two-way trade has increased fourfold. In 2016, the bilateral trade surged to a record-high of 6.27 billion USD, a huge jump from 1.6 billion USD in 2006. Vietnam and Indonesia strive to increase two-way trade to 10 billion USD in 2018.
Politically, the two countries shared common viewpoints of maintaining close coordination at international forums such as the United Nations and the Association of Southeast Asian Nation (ASEAN).
On August 21, Eurasia Review posted an article on its website highlighting the growing strategic ties between Vietnam and Indonesia.
“Indonesia regards Vietnam as an important country that has potentially huge strategic importance in Southeast Asia,” it said.
“According to Vietnam, Indonesia is an important power that can maintain ASEAN unity, centrality and maintain peace and security in Southeast Asia,” it added.
The three-day historic visit, which is also the first-ever visit to Indonesia by a Secretary General of the Communist Party of Vietnam, is intended to open a new chapter in the more than six decades of close friendship between the two countries, the article said.
The Vietnamese Party leader’s visit will positively contribute to deepening bilateral relations and strengthening cooperation in many fields.
Vietnam is scheduled to host the 2017 APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting in the central coastal city of Da Nang in November and President Joko Widodo will attend this event.
The visits of Trong and Widodo will set the course of strategic ties between Vietnam and Indonesia for the future, the article concluded.-VNA
