Indonesian President Joko Widodo held a bilateral meeting with Vietnamese President Trần Đại Quang at Presidential Palace of Vietnam in Hanoi, on Tuesday September 11, 2018. On the occassion, the leaders of the two countries were committed to increasing cooperation in trade sector. The trade trend of Indonesia-Vietnam will be improved for the development of the two countries. This year, the two countries’ trade values reached 6.8 billion USD. President Joko Widodo in a joint press statment after the bilateral meeting conveyed that the two countries will make efforts to eliminate trade barriers that currently still happened. The obstacles are among others related to export of Indonesian automotive products to Vietnam.
“I have asked President Quang’s attention to eliminate trade barriers including for Indonesian automotive products. Secondly, Indonesian investors want to develop its investment in Vietnam. Therefore, I asked President Quang to protect Indonesian investors and treat them fairly,” Joko Widodo said.
Furthermore, President Joko Widodo explained the commitment of Indonesia and Vietnam to increase cooperation in other fields. One of them is an effort to intensify the completion of the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) discussion of the two countries. Before carrying out the press statement with President Joko Widodo and President Quang, there was also a bilateral meeting attended by a number of ministers from respective country. On the occassion, the two countries have signed 2 Memorandum of Understandings directly witnnessed by President Joko Widodo and President Tran Dai Quang. The two MoUs are among others an Indonesia-Vietnam Strategic Partnership Action Plan of 2019-2023 signed by Indonesian and Vietnamese Foreign Affairs Ministers as well as Joint Communique to combat illegal fishing or illegal, unreported and unregulated –IUU Fishing and promoting sustainable fishing management signed by Indonesian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Vietnamese Minister of Agriculture and Rural development. (VOI/Rezha/Trs.N/AHM)