Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia, Retno Marsudi will hold a bilateral meeting with Papua New Guinea's Foreign Minister Rimbink Pato in Jakarta on Thursday afternoon, July 19, 2018. Through a press conference held in Jakarta on Wednesday, July 18, 2018, Spokesperson Indonesian Foreign Ministry, Arrmanatha Nasir explained, one of the issues to be raised at the bilateral meeting of the two Foreign Ministers is the border issue. In addition, the two Foreign Ministers will also discuss the results of the joint border committee meeting between Indonesia and Papua New Guinea.
"Some issues that will become the focus of attention of the two ministers tomorrow, first is related to border management We have a long border with PNG where there are also great economic potentials as well as border issues, cross border issues there. Of course the two ministers will also discuss the results of a joint border committee meeting that was held in April.," said Armanatha Nasir.
In addition to border issues, according to Arrmanatha Nasir efforts to increase economic and trade cooperation will also be the attention of the two Foreign Ministers in the bilateral meeting. One aspect that will be enhanced through economic and trade cooperation is the interaction between business actors in both countries. The trade value between Indonesia and Papua New Guinea alone in 2017 was recorded to reach 208.89 million US dollars, an increase compared to the year 2016 which recorded only 179, 2 million US dollars. (VOI / Rezha/AHM)