Beijing, The Indonesia Post – President Joko Widodo held a bilateral meeting with Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe at the China World Hotel, Beijing, China, on Tuesday.
The two leaders discussed increasing cooperation between the two countries in various fields.
In the economic sector, President Jokowi welcomed Sri Lanka’s desire to form a preferential trade agreement with Indonesia.
Based on data, Indonesia-Sri Lanka trade volume will fall by 27.5 percent in 2022, requiring joint efforts to increase the value of trade between the two countries.
“For this reason, I welcome Sri Lanka’s desire to form a preferential trade agreement with Indonesia,” said President Jokowi.
Jokowi also hopes that Sri will revoke the policy of banning palm oil imports.
Jokowi said that palm oil is Indonesia’s leading commodity which is produced with environmental standards in mind.
“I propose that we form a special mechanism to reopen market access for Indonesian palm oil in Sri Lanka,” added Jokowi.
Regarding the participation of Indonesian BUMN in Sri Lanka, Jokowi revealed that several Indonesian BUMN had explored real cooperation with Sri Lanka.
Jokowi hopes that Wickremesinghe will support this cooperation, especially in the areas of procurement of train carriages and printing of Sri Lankan electronic passports.
Finally, President Jokowi and President Wickremesinghe discussed blue economic cooperation where Jokowi expressed Indonesia’s support for Sri Lanka’s chairmanship of the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) for the 2023-2025 period and welcomed Sri Lanka’s desire to become an ASEAN Sectoral Partner.
“Indonesia also recently held the AIS Summit as a platform for cooperation between archipelagic and island countries to encourage innovative solutions for sustainable marine management,” said Jokowi.
During the meeting, President Jokowi was accompanied by Minister of Foreign Affairs Retno Marsudi, Minister of Trade Zulkifli Hasan, Minister of State-Owned Enterprises as Ad Interim Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Erick Thohir, Cabinet Secretary Pramono Anung and Indonesian Ambassador to China Djauhari Oratmangun. (mhn/bbs)
Comment