King of Saudi Arabia Salmin bin Abdulaziz al-Saud. (Source: Reuters) Jakarta (VNA) – King of Saudi Arabia Salmin bin Abdulaziz al-Saud is scheduled to visit Indonesia from March 1 to 9, his first Southeast Asia trip since he came to the throne in 2015.
This is also the first visit of a Saudi Arabian king to Indonesia in 47 years, showing signs that Saudi Arabia wants to enhance economic cooperation with the Southeast Asian country, said Indonesian former Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Dino Patti Djalal.
The State visit of King Salman is hoped to provide Indonesia with a marvellous opportunity to attract investment from Saudi Arabia in its infrastructure projects.
Pramono Anung, Indonesian Cabinet Secretary, said that King Salman will meet with Indonesian President Joko Widodo in Jakarta and discuss five agreements on promoting arts and cultural heritages, specialists exchange, popularisation of Islam, increase of flights from Indonesia to Saudi Arabia as well as tackling transnational crimes.
Indonesian State energy firm Pertamina and Saudi Arabia’s oil and gas company will also look into the construction of a 6 billion USD oil refinery in Cilacap, Central Java.
According to statistics of the Indonesian Investment Coordinating Board, foreign direct investment from the Saudi Arabian oil company to Pertamina roughly reached 900,000 USD in 2016, standing at 57th place, after South Africa (with 1 million USD) and Mali (1.1 million USD).-VNA
