Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung’s official visit to Indonesia from September 13-14 is expected to boost cooperation for common development between the two countries.

This would be one of several courtesy visits to ASEAN countries after his re-election as Prime Minister of Vietnam.

The visit affirms that Vietnam considers Indonesia an important partner in ASEAN and the region and is aimed at exchanging views to bring the two countries’ relations to a strategic level.

During this visit, leaders of the two countries will discuss measures to boost bilateral cooperation in every field, solve outstanding problems and exchange views on regional and international issues of mutual concern.

The visit was scheduled as the Vietnam-Indonesia traditional friendship and comprehensive cooperation are developing well and the two countries are celebrating the 55 th anniversary of diplomatic ties (Dec. 30).

Relations at the consulate general-level between Vietnam and Indonesia began on Dec. 30, 1955 and developed to the ambassadorial level on Aug. 15 1964. The two countries selected Dec. 30 as the day to celebrate their diplomatic ties.

Since then, friendship and cooperation between the two countries have constantly developed in many areas. Trade turnover between the two countries has increased continuously. The figure was 364 million USD in 1995, rising to 2.3 billion USD in 2009 and 3.3 billion USD in 2010.
Vietnam exported mainly rice, crude oil and farm products to Indonesia and imported fertilisers, petroleum, packaging, equipment, fibre, paper and confectionery.

Indonesian enterprises have invested in exploring and exploiting oil and gas, banking, hotel services, wood processing, garments and production of polyester fibre in Vietnam .

Up to July 2011, Indonesia had 28 investment projects valued at 206 million USD, ranking 30 among 92 foreign investors in Vietnam .

However, the Indonesian Ambassador to Vietnam said that the real investment capital of his country into Vietnam exceeded 2 billion USD as many project were registered through a third country.

Indonesia is one regional country having early defence and security relations with Vietnam . In 1964, Indonesia had a military attache office in Hanoi and in 1985 Vietnam opened a military attache office Jakarta .

The two sides exchanged delegations of defence ministers, police and high-ranking officers and boosted cooperation in fields including personnel training.

In recent years, the two countries exchanged delegations of all levels to share experience in executive, legislative and judicial sectors. Meanwhile, cultural and sporting exchanges continued to develop.

Indonesia also grants scholarships to Vietnamese students in education, culture and languages every year./.