VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The US State Secretary Michael Richard Pompeo on Saturday (4/8) visited Indonesia for a bilateral visit. The state visit is part of a series of bilateral visits of the US State Secretary to Southeast Asia. Arriving in Jakarta, Michael Richard Pompeo who was accompanied by several delegates directly came to the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to hold a meeting with the Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi. Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said the 70th anniversary of Indonesia-US diplomatic relations next-year was discussed at the meeting which lasted for approximately 30 minutes. In particular, the theme proposed by Indonesia for the commemoration is 'Celebrate Our Diversity Prosper Together as Strategic Partner'.

“Next year Indonesia and the United States will celebrate their 70th diplomatic relations. I’ve said earlier that for next year's commemoration, the theme proposed by Indonesia is “Celebrate our Diversity, Prosper Together as Strategic Partners”. Indonesia and the United States are partners in developing the values ​​of democracy, pluralism and tolerance, Indonesia as the world's most populous Muslim country, as the third largest democracy country in the world and one of the 20 countries with the largest GDP, certainly has a strategic position in the international relations,” Retno Marsudi said.

On the same occasion Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi also said that ASEAN-US economic relations would benefit both parties. The relationship is mainly in the field of trade and investment. The annual economic growth of ASEAN countries is still more than five percent. Therefore, according to Retno Marsudi ASEAN has considerable potential and capacity, so that ASEAN's trade and investment relations with the US will benefit both parties. On the occasion, Retno Marsudi also told Richard Pompeo on ASEAN-US trade data for the past 10 years. In the past 10 years, US exports to ASEAN have shown a fairly good increase. US investment in ASEAN is the fourth largest, while the figure of ASEAN investment in the US is also quite large. (VOI/Rezha/NT)